Following the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement sparked waves of protests against racial inequality and police brutality across the United States. Now, five years later, a new study from Pew Research Center has examined how Americans’ opinions on the movement and issues of race have changed since the summer of 2020.
In September 2020, over half of U.S. adults said the increased focus on racial inequality would lead to changes that would improve the lives of Black Americans, and two-thirds expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Nearly five years later, 72 percent of Americans now believe the increased focus on race after Floyd’s murder did not lead to changes that improved the lives of Black Americans. Furthermore, support for the Black Lives Matter movement dropped by 15 percentage points from June 2020 to 2025.
Today, support for the Black Lives Matter movement varies widely among different demographic groups. Over three-quarters of Black adults express support for the movement, compared to 61 percent of Hispanic and Asian adults and just 45 percent of White adults. Democrats are significantly more likely than Republicans to support the movement, at 84 percent and 22 percent, respectively. Additionally, Americans aged 18 to 29 are more likely than older adults to support the movement.
In 2020, the majority of U.S. adults said police were doing only a fair or poor job of holding officers accountable, treating racial and ethnic groups equally, and using the right amount of force for each situation. By 2023, views on police conduct became slightly more positive, but still fewer than half of U.S. adults stated that American police do an excellent or good job in these areas. Today, 54 percent of U.S. adults say the relationship between Black Americans and police has not changed since Floyd’s death. A third of U.S. adults believe the relationship has gotten worse and just 11 percent believe the relationship has improved.
Many companies publicly denounced racism following Floyd’s murder, with 80 percent of Americans stating they had heard or seen organizations making such statements. However, 69 percent of U.S. adults stated these companies did so because they felt pressure from others to address the issue, while just 19 percent of Americans believed these organizations had genuine concerns about the treatment of Black Americans.
Five years later, 41 percent of Americans now believe there is too much attention paid to issues of racial inequality, while 35 percent say there’s too little attention. Black adults (69 percent) and Democrats (56 percent) are more likely to believe there is not enough public attention in this area, while almost half of White Americans and two-thirds of Republicans believe there is too much. The majority of all Americans say they feel exhausted extremely or very often when thinking about the state of race and racial issues in the U.S. today.
Americans’ views on the state of racial equity today has changed only slightly in recent years. In September 2020, 49 percent of Americans said the country has not gone far enough on racial equality for Black people. That share dropped to 45 percent in 2019 and again to 43 percent in 2025. Among different racial groups, 82 percent of Black adults hold this sentiment, compared to 49 percent of Hispanic adults, 45 percent of Asian adults, and 33 percent of White adults
Over the past five years, Americans have become less optimistic about the future of racial equality for Black people. In 2020, 60 percent of Americans believed it was at least somewhat likely that Black people will eventually have equal rights with White people. By 2025, the share who believe this has dropped to 51 percent. Black Americans are the least optimistic, with just 32 percent believing they will someday have equal rights with White Americans.
Furthermore, Americans remain divided on their expectations for President Trump’s handling of racial issues during his second term. Overall, 48 percent of Americans believe he will make matters worse, compared to 28 percent who believe he will make things better and 24 percent who think he won’t make much difference on these issues. Democrats are significantly more likely than Republicans to think President Trump will make things worse, at 82 percent and 14 percent, respectively. In contrast, 53 percent of Republicans think President Trump will make things better, compared to only 5 percent of Democrats.
