(NewsNation) — A majority of Americans said an increased focus on racial inequality following the death of George Floyd did not result in changes that improved the lives of Black people.
May 25, 2025, will mark five years since George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was killed by white police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis.
Chauvin was found guilty of murder and manslaughter and was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.
Floyd’s murder sparked widespread protests, with millions marching in their communities to draw attention to issues of racial inequality, including police treatment of Black people.
New polling from Pew Research Center found that 72% of Americans say the focus on racial inequality didn’t actually do anything to improve the conditions of Black people in America.
That’s a change from September 2020, when 52% of Americans believed the focus on race and inequality would lead to changes that would improve the lives of Black people, while 46% did not. It’s also an increase from 2023, when 57% of Americans said the movement had not led to change that helped the Black community.
When it specifically comes to the relationship between police and Black Americans, 54% of Americans said things were about the same as they were when Floyd was killed, while 33% said things are worse and just 11% said things are better.
That view didn’t differ significantly when broken down by race or gender, but it did vary based on political affiliation. More Republicans (39%) were likely to say the relationship between police and Black people is work compared to 28% of Democrats, and 59% of Democrats said things are about the same compared to 49% of Republicans.
There are also differences in how Americans think about the focus on race, with 41% of people saying there is too much focus on race, a number similar to five years ago.
White Americans are most likely to say there is too much focus on race at 49%, while a majority of Black Americans (69%) say not enough attention is given to racial issues.
Political party also plays a role here, with 66% of Republicans saying too much attention is given to racial issues, while 56% of Democrats say too little attention is paid to those issues.
White Americans are also more likely to think that the country has made about the right amount of progress on racial issues (44%), while 82% of Black Americans say there hasn’t been enough progress.
Hope for the future is also down. Among those who say there is still work to be done on racial equality, 51% of Americans say it’s very or somewhat likely Black people will achieve equality with White Americans, down from 60% in 2020.
That may be influenced by the presidency. When it comes to race, 48% of Americans believe President Donald Trump will make things worse for race relations and 28% think he’ll improve things. Unsurprisingly, that varies dramatically by party, with 53% of Republicans saying Trump would improve things and just 5% of Democrats agreeing.