“Opinions on race and racism seem to be extremely entrenched” here is how they have changed during the pandemic

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Over a year ago, a clear majority of Americans said people of color suffered the worst pandemic threats to health and wealth.

Now that sentiment is fading, according to a new poll, even as indicators such as employment figures continue to suggest that the rebound in the economy is not going as well for black and Latino communities as it is for their families. white counterparts.

Just over half (53%) of survey participants agreed that people of color bear the brunt of the pandemic and, similarly, half of people agreed that minorities bear the financial brunt, according to a RAND poll Corporation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released Thursday.

Compare that to July 2020, just months after the start of the pandemic and shortly after George Floyds’ murder was caught by a smartphone of passers-by. At the time, a much higher percentage of people (61%) said people of color faced more health impacts from pandemics. Meanwhile, 57.5% of people said people of color suffered the most financial impact.

(Perhaps unsurprisingly, black and Latino survey participants were more likely to spot the uneven financial and health impacts of COVID-19 compared to white participants.)

People of color face higher unemployment

Compare these survey numbers with the counts from the Bureau of Labor Statistics employment reports. From July 2020 to September 2021, black unemployment fell from 14.4% to 7.9%, and rose to 6.7% last month. For Latino workers, the unemployment rate fell from 12.7% to 6.3% in September and fell to 5.2% in November.

Current unemployment rates for black and Latino workers are lower than final figures before the March 2020 pandemic, when they were 6.8% for black workers and 6% for Latino workers. But it’s still higher than the white unemployment rate.

Between July 2020 and September 2021, the unemployment rate for whites fell from 9.2% to 4.2%. It reached 3.7% in November, which is slightly lower than the rate for March 2020.

We conducted this survey because we wanted to see whether experiencing a once-in-a-century global pandemic would spur a shift in perspectives and deeply held attitudes regarding health, systemic racism and equity, said Anita Chandra, vice president and senior. policy researcher at RAND Corporation.

“We wanted to see if experiencing a once-in-a-century global pandemic would spur a shift in perspectives and deeply held attitudes about health, systemic racism and equity. ”

Anita Chandra, Vice President and Senior Policy Researcher at RAND Corporation

We have found that opinions on race and racism appear to be extremely entrenched, she said, adding that laws and initiatives to tackle inequality must take into account where the public is located and of what needs to happen for those feelings to evolve.

Participants in the fourth and final round of the RAND Corporation-Robert Wood Johnson Foundation survey said barriers such as low incomes and difficult access to health care in rural communities mattered more than a race of people. It was a constant attitude throughout.

Almost two-thirds (63.8%) in September 2021 said low income made it more difficult to access health care. That’s pretty close to the 65% who felt the same in July 2020.

In the most recent survey, less than half of people (44.4%) believed black households had more difficulty accessing health care than white households. This is essentially unchanged from July 2020, when researchers first asked the question.

Changing Perspectives on Racial Inequalities

The view on racial inequity is clouding, but 68% of survey participants still saw the pandemic as a chance for positive change. This is down from almost three-quarters in July 2020.

Immediately after the murder of George Floyd, racial inequalities were at the forefront of people’s minds, said Katherine Carman, senior economist at RAND Corporation and one of the polls. As we move away from that, it moves away from the foreground of people’s minds, Carman said.

It is really important that people understand the inequalities that people of color face, especially blacks and Latinos in America, because if we as a society do not understand these inequalities it is difficult for us to create policies to address inequalities, she noted.

Floyd’s murder sparked global protests and corporate denunciations of racial inequality. Today, tracking the billions that companies have pledged to fight racial divisions is almost impossible to know, some observers say. Social justice-related donations soared in June 2020, the month after Floyd’s murder, but then plunged in December 2020, according to a donation platform.

From a different perspective, the march towards equity has slowed down. In 2019, people of color made up 16.6% of the executive workforce at America’s largest investment firms, and in 2020 that number has risen to 17.6%, according to a Congressional report released this week.

Former Minnesota cop Derek Chauvin, who is white, was sentenced in June to 22 years for the murder of Floyd, who was black. Chauvin appealed. In another closely watched case, three white men were convicted last month of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man.

The investigation was carried out months before the emergence of the omicron variant in late November, but it shows broad support for America to send more COVID-19 vaccines overseas. About 63% said they were supporting the country sending additional vaccine doses to countries in need.

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