The survey of 1,638 U.S. adults, which was conducted from July 13-17, shows that among 2020 Trump voters, 62% say that racism against Black Americans is a problem today — while 73% say that racism against white Americans is a problem.
Asked how much of a problem racism currently is, just 19% of Trump voters describe racism against Black Americans as a “big problem.” Twice as many (37%) say racism against white Americans is a big problem.
Trump voters and self-identified Republicans — overlapping but not identical cohorts — are the only demographic groups identified by Yahoo News and YouGov who are more likely to say racism against white Americans is a problem than to say the same about racism against Black Americans. A majority (51%) of white Americans, for instance, think racism against people who look like them is a problem — but overall, far more white Americans (72%) say racism against Black Americans is a problem.
The poll found 77% of those who prefer Trump for 2024 view racism against whites as a problem. Among independents, 49% said racism against whites was a problem vs 43% who said it was not.
How are Republicans going to address these concerns? The overwhelming majority of elected Republicans are completely silent on the issue and are only willing to criticize vague concepts like “wokeness” and “critical race theory.”
For his part, Trump managed to stack the Supreme Court and gut affirmative action. In part as a result of that ruling, a Trump-appointed district judge in Tennessee struck down the Department of Agriculture and Small Business Administration’s race-based contracting schemes favoring minority-owned businesses.
By Chris Menahan