The Polls-Trends: The Polarization of White Racial Attitudes and Support for Racial Equality in the US

Abstract

Public opinion research has long demonstrated that white Americans are generally resistant to racially egalitarian policies. Using decades of national public opinion data, we re-examine opinion on race policy in the wake of considerable polarization and shifts in racial attitudes across white partisans. We find that white Democrats have in recent years shown both increasingly liberal racial attitudes and a marked increase in support for policies promoting racial equality that at times rivals the levels of support expressed by Black Americans. We also find, however, that these trends among white Democrats are tempered by heightened levels of racial resentment and continued opposition to racially egalitarian policies among white Republicans. Today, partisans appear to be far more polarized on matters of race and racism than at any point in the last three decades.