Trump supporters are increasingly isolated in their denial of systemic racism, according to new polling data
Only 9% of Trump voters think it's harder to be Black than white in the US, leaving his base far from the rest of the country, a new Pew poll shows.
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- A large swath of the American public has shifted in its views on race, but Trump's base has not.
- In a new Pew Research survey, just 9% of Trump supporters say it's harder to be Black in the US than white.
- Compared to 74% of Biden voters and 44% of the general electorate, Trump's base is left on an island of its own denial of systemic racism.
- Seventy-six percent of American voters say it is at least "a little more difficult" or "a lot more difficult" to be Black than white in the US, with the share of respondents saying the latter up 9% from 2016.
- "This change has come entirely from supporters of the Democratic candidates," Pew researchers said on the shift in a breakdown of the survey provided to Insider.
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New data from Pew Research on perceptions of key social issues show that President Donald Trump's base is an outlier from the rest of the country when it comes to views on racism.
Just 9% of Trump supporters say they believe it is harder to be Black in the US than white, compared to 44% of all voters and 74% of Joe Biden supporters, according to a report released Thursday, part of the Center's American Trends Panel.
Trump supporters remain relatively unchanged in this view since 2016, when 11% said they believe it is harder to be Black in America than white.
Yet the data indicates a dramatic shift in perceptions of racism among Democratic voters, signifying the Biden coalition is much more progressive on race in 2020 than Hillary Clinton voters were in 2016. Only 57% of Clinton supporters had said it is harder to be Black than white in the US in the same survey.
"This change has come entirely from supporters of the Democratic candidates," Pew researchers note in a breakdown of the survey provided to Insider.
The results indicate a 65-percentage point gap between Biden and Trump supporters on this question of racism, compared to 46 percentage points between Trump and Clinton voters in 2016.
Pew Research
The survey was taken between July 27 and August 2, and does not mention George Floyd, although other polling data has shown a significant shift in public views on racism in the aftermath of his death at the hands of police.
Of the total sample of 11,001 respondents, the margin of error is 1.5%, according to Pew.
Trump has tried to court Black voters through the summer, but has repeatedly stated he does not believe systemic racism exists, equating police officers who kill unarmed civilians to golfers who "choke" on the putting green.
He only won 8% of Black voters in 2016, while more recent polling shows him earning, at best, 10% support among them nationwide.