Who faces the most discrimination in the US? It depends on whom you ask, poll finds
A majority of Americans said discrimination in the United States is felt by several groups, but perceptions on which groups face it the most vary widely by partisanship, a poll found.
In general, Democrats said there was more discrimination overall when compared to Republicans, according to a survey by Pew Research Center released May 20.
The poll of 3,589 U.S. adults was taken from April 7 to April 13 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points, researchers said.
Republicans were more likely than Democrats to say discrimination is felt among white people, evangelical Christians, men and religious people, the poll found.
On the other hand, Democrats said people who are gay or lesbian, Black people, immigrants who are legally in the U.S., Hispanic people and women faced discrimination at higher rates than what Republicans said, according to the poll.
Two groups — immigrants illegally in the U.S. and people who are transgender — were perceived by both Republicans and Democrats as having some of the highest rates of discrimination, according to the poll. Democrats, however, said the groups faced discrimination at significantly higher rates than Republicans, 94% and 91% compared to 69% and 63%, respectively, poll results show.
Other findings
Less Americans overall said certain racial and ethnic groups face discrimination when compared to previous years, but the decline is largely led by Republicans, the poll also found.
Fifty-four percent of Republicans said Black and Hispanic people face “a lot or some” discrimination, down 12 percentage points from last year, according to the poll.
For Democrats, however, the rates of discrimination seen among Black people increased two percentage points in the last year, the poll found.
Perceptions of discrimination among Asian and white people also decreased significantly for Republicans but stayed almost the same for Democrats, according to results.
Half of Republicans said gay and lesbian people experience discrimination, a decrease of nine percentage points since 2021 and 14 since 2017, according to the poll.
Americans in general were less likely to say Muslims and Jews are discriminated against than they did last year, researchers said.
This story was originally published May 21, 2025 at 5:25 PM with the headline "Who faces the most discrimination in the US? It depends on whom you ask, poll finds."
