NBC Poll: 48% of Americans Rate Race Relations Good, 50% Bad

An NBC News poll released this month shows 48% of Americans describe race relations in the United States as generally good, while 50% call them generally bad. The share saying relations are good has risen 20 percentage points since July 2020. Only 7% rate them “very good,” the highest level recorded in NBC News polling since 2011, and 17% rate them “very bad,” the lowest share in more than a decade.

Most answers fell in the middle categories. Forty-one percent called race relations “fairly good,” up 20 points from 2020, and 33% called them “fairly bad,” down from 39% in 2020. The poll was sponsored by More Perfect, a nonpartisan nonprofit focused on democracy.

Responses varied by race. Forty-six percent of white Americans said relations are “fairly good,” compared with 24% of Black Americans. ” Fifty-nine percent of Americans overall said more unites people of different races or ethnic backgrounds than divides them, while 39% said the opposite.

Majorities of white, Black, and Asian respondents agreed there is more unity, but 54% of Hispanics said more divides Americans of different races. ” “Everybody just feels like they can just say whatever they want, for any type of racist slur. Everybody’s more comfortable now,” Byrd said.

He added that he remains hopeful but cautious: “I’m always hopeful. , a 56-year-old white Republican from Georgia who works in information technology, said relations are generally good. “Everyone doesn’t care about race,” he said, blaming politicians and media for sensationalizing divides.

Mark, a 36-year-old white Republican from Ohio, said people of different races are “way more divided” than they should be. He said his mother in her late 60s tells him she has “never seen it this bad” and blamed media coverage that highlights race in crime stories.