How Views on Race Split American Communities

Fifty years ago in February, President Gerald Ford observed Black History Month thus: “In the bicentennial year of our Independence, we can review with admiration the impressive contributions of black Americans to our national life and culture…. The last quarter-century has finally witnessed significant strides in the full integration of black people into every area of national life.”

On the cusp of the nation’s 250th anniversary, race remains a central fault line in American society that continually runs through public opinion polls. In the summer of 2023, the American Communities Project and Ipsos asked 5,000 survey respondents if they agreed or disagreed with the statement: “Racism is built into the American economy, government, and educational system.” Nearly half, 48%, said they agreed.

Two years later in the most recent poll by ACP/Ipsos, 47% of 5,000 respondents agreed. Nationally, these results are among the most discordant in our survey series, but they do not convey the full picture. Also, as with all polling, this shows a snapshot in a turbulent time.

Where Long-standing Republican-Leaning Communities Break

As the chart above shows, the degree to which residents in some Republican-stronghold communities viewed racism as an institutional problem in America dropped least six points between 2023 and 2025.

• In Working Class Country, 46% of residents felt racism was built into key American institutions in 2023, then dropped to 39% last year.
• In Military Posts, the figure declined from 52% to 46% in the same time frame.
• In Evangelical Hubs, it plunged 9 points, from 43% to 34%.

All three community types voted for President Trump in 2024 by large margins — Evangelical Hubs by 63%, Working Class Country by 47%, and Military Posts by 12%.

Swing Counties: Hispanic Centers

The trend was reversed in Hispanic Centers, which voted for Trump by 10% in 2024 but have felt the effects of his administration’s immigration crackdown as his second term goes on. In 2025, 53% of Hispanic Center residents agreed that racism is built into the American economy, government, and educational system. In 2023, the figure was 5 points lower, at 48%. (In 2020, Hispanic Centers voted for Democrat Joe Biden by 2%.)

Where Longtime Democrat-Leaning Communities Break

In the four Democrat-stalwart communities that voted for Kamala Harris in 2024, the views on racism mostly remained about the same over these two years, with movements of a few percentage points in either direction.

• In 2023, 58% in Big Cities agreed that racism was an institutional problem, and in 2025, 60% said so.
• In 2023, 54% in Urban Suburbs agreed; 52% said so in 2025.
• In 2023, 55% in College Towns agreed; 54% said so in 2025.
• The Democrat-leaning African American South, saw a slightly larger shift — 58% initially agreed that racism was built into American institutions, whereas the number dropped to 52% in 2025.

Harris won Big Cities by 36%, Urban Suburbs by 13%, College Towns by 8%, and African American South communities by 5%.

Even the Playing Field?

While respondents are split on racism’s role in American institutions, not much appetite exists for government intervention to even the field. In the ACP/Ipsos 2025 survey, just 40% overall said: “The U.S. should do more to level the playing field for historically underrepresented groups.”

But the idea of doing more separated the community types by nearly 30 points, falling along familiar geographic and political lines. Only in Big Cities did the percentage surpass half the population. Hispanic Centers were about split at 49%. The African American South followed at 44%, the Urban Suburbs at 43%. Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum were rural, mostly white communities of varying means: Rural Middle America at 29%, Working Class Country at 29%, Evangelical Hubs at 33%, and LDS Enclaves at 35%.

The friction on this issue continues to churn upward and outward. On Jan. 20, 2025, President Trump signed the executive order “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” including cancelling diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the federal government. Since then, Black employees have been disproportionately impacted by the thousands of job cuts to the federal government in 2025. In a January 2026 interview with The New York Times, Trump said in response to policies instituted after the Civil Rights Act: “White people were very badly treated, where they did extremely well and they were not invited to go into a university to college.”

It’s been more than two and a half years since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action policies in college admissions. In October 2025, an Associated Press analysis found that “Black enrollment is waning at many elite colleges after affirmative action ban.”

To read individuals’ views of diversity programs, visit our November 2025 story: “Tailgate Talk Across America — On College Value, Diversity, and AI.”