U.S. Satisfaction With Treatment of Asian People Tumbles

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' satisfaction with the way society treats Asian people has fallen sharply this year, from 60% to 46%, after a series of violent attacks on Asian Americans in recent months. This 14-percentage-point drop follows a 15-point decline between 2016 and 2020. Before 2016, Gallup typically found more than seven in 10 Americans satisfied with the way society treated Asian people.

These findings, from a Gallup poll conducted June 1-July 5, come after a year in which violence against Asian Americans spiked in several major cities and garnered significant media attention.

White (50%) and Hispanic (44%) adults are more likely than Black adults (30%) to be satisfied with the way Asian people are treated, but satisfaction has declined to a similar degree among all three groups.

At the same time, U.S. adults perceive that relations between Asian and White people, as well as Asian and Black people, have deteriorated. Double-digit drops are seen among those who say relations are "very" or "somewhat" good between White and Asian people (67%) and Black and Asian people (58%).

While majorities of Americans still view relations between these groups positively, the latest figures represent new lows in their respective trends.

Satisfaction With Treatment of Immigrants the Lowest Gallup Has Measured

Gallup has polled on the treatment of additional groups since 2001. Satisfaction with the treatment of immigrants has waned over the past 20 years, with the current 33% marking the lowest total percentage of those who are very or somewhat satisfied that Gallup has recorded for any group in this time. The prior low was 35% for the treatment of Black people in last year's survey.

Small majorities were satisfied with the way immigrants were treated in the early 2000s, but this figure gradually declined over the course of the three previous U.S. presidencies, during which no major legislation on immigration issues was passed. Since President Joe Biden took office in January, legislation to provide pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants has stalled, as well as other bills to protect farm workers and young immigrants.

Despite the new low in satisfaction with the treatment of immigrants in the U.S., Americans' acceptance of immigrants has remained relatively stable for years in Gallup's Migrant Acceptance Index.

On a relative basis, Americans are less satisfied with the way society treats immigrants and Black people than the way Asian people are treated. The 15% of Black Americans and 37% of Hispanic Americans satisfied with the treatment of Black people are the lowest Gallup has measured to date within those subgroups, though not meaningfully different from the 2018 or 2020 readings.

Less than half of Americans are satisfied with how Hispanic (46%) and Arab people (43%) are treated in society, with both figures similar to recent measurements.

	U.S. adults	White adults	Black adults	Hispanic adults
	%	%	%	%
White people	68	69	62	64
Women	53	57	39	46
Jewish people	51	53	45	45
Asian people	46	50	30	44
Hispanic people	46	52	25	40
Arab people	43	46	30	41
Black people	38	44	15	37
Immigrants	33	37	16	30
GALLUP, JUNE 1-JULY 5, 2021

In contrast, slim majorities are satisfied with the treatment of women (53%) and Jewish people (51%), while a larger majority of Americans are satisfied with how White people are treated (68%). The public was more satisfied with how women were treated earlier in the trend, ranging from 63% to 72% satisfied from 2001 to 2016. After the "Me Too" movement took hold in 2017, figures have been lower -- between 53% and 54% since 2018.

This is the first time Gallup has asked about the treatment of Jewish people and White people. The new measure for Jewish people comes after a spate of antisemitic attacks and hostility following the Israeli-Palestinian conflict this year in Gaza.

Across all groups, White Americans are slightly more satisfied than the national average with the way people are treated in society, while Black and Hispanic adults are less satisfied than the U.S. average. On several measures, Black adults are far less satisfied with the treatment of groups than both White and Hispanic adults.

Bottom Line

Views on the treatment of Asian people have taken a sharp turn amid high-profile incidents of violence since the COVID-19 pandemic began. And while small majorities were content with the treatment of immigrants in the early 2000s, Americans are now the least satisfied with how this group is treated out of any group polled in the 20-year trend.

Americans are not fully satisfied with how most groups are treated in society, and Gallup has recorded a larger decline in satisfaction with these groups' treatment in recent years. Levels of satisfaction with the treatment of Black, Hispanic, Asian and Arab people, as well as immigrants and women, have reached their lowest points in this latest poll or in recent ones.

Gallup's trends spanning two decades have not found any improvements over time in how Americans perceive various groups are treated, only stable or declining ratings. Thus, it is unclear if the 2020-2021 polls represent rock bottom for views on the societal treatment of different people or if these perceptions will continue to deteriorate.

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