Americans Identifying Race Relations as a Top Issue Sharply Rises According to Gallup Poll

Saturday, December 20, 2014
GoLocalWorcester News Team

Demonstrator in Ferguson Photo: iStock

Gallup released results from a new poll on December 19 that suggests that percentage of Americans naming “race relations” or “racism” as the most important problem in the country has risen to 13% - the highest percentage in the last 22 years.

Gallup has not found a percentage of Americans identifying race relations as the most important problem in America since the Rodney King trial in 1992 which yielded a response of 15% of Americans identifying racism as a top issue. 

Since the Rodney King trial, race relations was identified by 0-5% of Americans year-over-year until last month when incidents in Ferguson, Missouri, Staten Island, and New York have been garnering national attention and protests. Gallup also found that there has been a recent drop in nonwhite American’s confidence in the police to protect them, as well as a drop in the rating of the honesty and ethical standards of law enforcement. 

Nonwhites were also identified to be 22% - or twice as likely than whites (9%) to view racial issues as the US’s largest problem. 

Race relations and the economy are now tied (13%) as the most important issues in the country as identified by Americans, followed by unemployment (8%). The government is currently identified as the top problem by Americans with 15% of the country in agreement. 

Survey Methods

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Dec. 8-11, 2014, on the Gallup U.S. Daily survey, with a random sample of 805 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 50% cellphone respondents and 50% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.

View complete question responses and trends.

Learn more about how Gallup Poll Social Series works.