--- title: 55% of White People Think America Discriminates Against Them description: Over half of white Americans in a recent poll said there is discrimination against their race in contemporary America canonical: https://time.com/4996106/discrimination-white-people-survey-poll/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-24T22:50:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:01.775Z article:section: Politics og:title: 55% of White People Think America Discriminates Against Them og:description: According to a new poll og:url: https://time.com/4996106/discrimination-white-people-survey-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42c3429f28b79afc/6988e33b7cdbac1535d5a9b6/trumps-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: President Trump Holds Rally In Phoenix, Arizona og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 55% of White People Think America Discriminates Against Them twitter:description: According to a new poll twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42c3429f28b79afc/6988e33b7cdbac1535d5a9b6/trumps-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 55% of White People Think America Discriminates Against Them > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: The Trump Administration Is Set to Probe College Affirmative Action for Discriminating Against White [Watch (HLS stream): The Trump Administration Is Set to Probe College Affirmative Action for Discriminating Against White](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/naLtL8Al.m3u8) (1:17)  _Published 2017-08-02. The civil rights division of the Justice Department is planning to investigate and potentially take legal action against universities over affirmative action admissions policies that critics say discriminate against white applicants_  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Oct 24, 2017 10:50 PM UTC  President Donald Trump speaks to a crowd of supporters at the Phoenix Convention Center during a rally on August 22, 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona. President Donald Trump speaks to a crowd of supporters at the Phoenix Convention Center during a rally on August 22, 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona. Ralph Freso—Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Oct 24, 2017 10:50 PM UTC More than half of white Americans said there is discrimination against their race in contemporary America, according to a new poll. A total of 55 percent of whites [said they believed discrimination against their own race existed in America today](http://www.npr.org/assets/img/2017/10/23/discriminationpoll-whites-tablesxyz.pdf) in a new poll conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. But [as NPR notes,](http://www.npr.org/2017/10/24/559604836/majority-of-white-americans-think-theyre-discriminated-against?utm%5Fterm=nprnews&utm%5Fcontent=buffer013f1&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fcampaign=buffer) fewer respondents could cite specific instances of this discrimination. Only nineteen percent of whites who were polled said they were discriminated against while applying for jobs, and 13 percent said the discrimination occurred when they were under consideration for a promotion. Just 11 percent said it was while they were applying to college or attending college, according to the poll. [NPR explained](http://www.npr.org/2017/10/24/559604836/majority-of-white-americans-think-theyre-discriminated-against?utm%5Fterm=nprnews&utm%5Fcontent=buffer013f1&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fcampaign=buffer) that the results showed a correlation among white respondents between income and response, with those making less money believing discrimination was more rampant. Whites who were polled had the lowest percentage of affirmative responses, followed by Asian Americans at 61 percent. Comparatively, 92 percent of African Americans, 90 percent of people who identified as LGBTQ, 78 percent of Latinos, and 75 percent of Native Americans said discrimination existed against them. The survey consisted of 3,453 respondents, 902 of whom were white. It was conducted from January 26 to April 9\. 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