A new NBC News poll finds that Americans believe race relations in the United States have improved significantly since the summer of 2020, when protests swept the country following George Floyd's death. The survey, sponsored by More Perfect, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to advancing democracy, shows 48% of Americans now say race relations are generally good, up 20 percentage points from July 2020. However, half of respondents—50%—still describe race relations as generally bad, highlighting persistent divides in how Americans perceive the state of racial harmony.

The poll marks a notable shift in public sentiment. Just 7% of all adults rate race relations as "very good," though that represents the highest level recorded by NBC News polling since 2011. Meanwhile, 17% describe them as "very bad," the lowest figure in more than a decade. Most responses cluster toward the middle: 41% call race relations "fairly good" and 33% say they are "fairly bad."

What the Left Is Saying

Progressive voices and Democratic-leaning respondents pointed to structural inequalities and political rhetoric as factors perpetuating racial division. Halin Byrd, a 22-year-old Black independent voter from Pennsylvania who participated in the survey, said he believes race relations have actually regressed despite the polling data showing improvement.

"Everybody just feels like they can just say whatever they want, for any type of racist slur. Everybody's more comfortable now," Byrd said. "They have a different experience. As the saying goes, 'Privilege is invisible to those who have it.' I kind of expect for them to think that it's good, because for them it's always been."

Other respondents of color echoed similar concerns about systemic barriers. Ann, a 25-year-old Vietnamese immigrant from Kansas, said she believed race relations were "bad right now," citing struggles faced by people of color in escaping poverty due to what she described as "the system oppressing marginalized people." She also attributed current tensions partly to political leadership, saying President Donald Trump's rhetoric made certain groups "feel more comfortable being racist or feel more comfortable being prejudiced."

Faviola Maichena, a 47-year-old independent from Wisconsin who is Latina, said she sees increased division and believes the Trump administration "is targeting demographic minorities for sure, Blacks, Latinos and other people." She works in food and beverage management.

What the Right Is Saying

Conservative respondents and Republicans largely credited social progress while blaming media coverage and political rhetoric for exaggerating racial tensions. Todd B., a 56-year-old white Republican from Georgia who works in information technology, said he believed race relations were generally good despite what he called sensationalism by politicians and news organizations.

"Everyone doesn't care about race," Todd said. "I think the media and politics have made this into a bigger issue than it really is."

Mark, a 36-year-old white Republican from Ohio, acknowledged that people of different races seem "way more divided" than they should be but placed responsibility on media coverage he believes cherry-picks stories to fit a narrative. He recalled his mother telling him she has "never seen it this bad," while also questioning why race is included in so many news reports.

"Why can't it just be 'Ohio man does this'? Why do we have to know if he's white or Black? Having a certain skin tone doesn't make you a criminal; we shouldn't have race-based stats on anything. Everything is sensationalized," Mark said.

Anthony B., a 61-year-old white Republican from Pennsylvania, argued the country is less divided by race than media coverage suggests and that constant discussion perpetuates the problem.

"If you keep on talking about problems with race every day, it's going to continue. If you quit talking about it, I think it won't eliminate it, but I think it would reduce it," Anthony said.

What the Numbers Show

The poll reveals stark differences in how White and Black Americans assess racial harmony. While 46% of White respondents rate race relations as "fairly good" and just 15% call them "very bad," only 24% of Black Americans say the same about being "fairly good" while 36% describe relations as "very bad."

Latino Americans fall between these two groups: 16% view relations as "very good," 30% as "fairly good," another 30% as "fairly bad," and 15% as "very bad." Asian American respondents show the most positive clustering away from extremes, with only 2% calling relations "very good" and 7% saying "very bad," while 59% rate them "fairly good" and 32% call them "fairly bad."

On whether common ground exists across racial lines, 59% of all Americans say there is more that unites people of different races than divides them. Majorities of White (63%), Black (54%), and Asian Americans (62%) agree with this assessment. However, a majority of Hispanic respondents—54%—say there is more that divides Americans of different racial and ethnic backgrounds.

The Bottom Line

The NBC News survey captures an American public at an inflection point on race relations. Aggregate polling numbers suggest measurable improvement since 2020, yet the data also reveals how differently White and Black Americans experience and perceive these dynamics. That gap—36% of Black respondents calling relations "very bad" versus 15% of White respondents—underscores persistent structural and experiential divides that aggregate figures can obscure.

The partisan split in interpretation reflects broader patterns: those most critical of current conditions point to systemic inequities and political rhetoric as drivers of division, while those who see improvement emphasize social progress and blame media coverage for amplifying tensions. What both sides appear to agree on is that race remains a defining fault line in American life, even if they disagree sharply about whether things are getting better or worse.