Views of Race, Policing and Black Lives Matter in the 5 Years Since George Floyd’s Killing

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The Black Lives Matter movement, which first rose to prominence in 2013 following George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, reached a high point in favorability during the 2020 protests, with 67% of U.S. adults expressing support. And a Pew Research Center analysis shows that use of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag peaked following Floyd’s killing.

Some called the summer of 2020 a time of racial reckoning in America. But in the years since, Americans have expressed growing skepticism that the events of 2020 produced significant change.

In September 2020, 52% of U.S. adults said the increased focus on issues of race and racial inequality would lead to changes that would improve the lives of Black people; 46% said it would not.

Five years later, 72% say the increased focus on race and racial inequality after Floyd’s killing did not lead to changes that improved the lives of Black people.¹

The share of Americans who express support for the Black Lives Matter movement stands at 52% today, a drop of 15 percentage points compared with June 2020.

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Views of police conduct turned more negative in the weeks following George Floyd’s death.

In June 2020, most U.S. adults said police around the country were doing an only fair or poor job of:

• Holding officers accountable for misconduct (69%)
• Treating racial and ethnic groups equally (65%)
• Using the right amount of force for each situation (64%)

Each of these shares was at least 10 percentage points higher than it had been in 2016.

By 2023, views had become more positive, though fewer than half said police were doing an excellent or good job in each of these areas.

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Five years after George Floyd’s death, we asked Americans how they see the relationship between police and Black people in the United States.

More than half of U.S. adults (54%) say things are about the same as before Floyd was killed.² A third say things are now worse, while just 11% say things are better.

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How support for the Black Lives Matter movement has changed

Public support for the Black Lives Matter movement also reached a high mark in June 2020, when 67% of U.S. adults expressed support, according to our surveys.

However, support quickly dropped. In September 2020, 55% of Americans said they supported the Black Lives Matter movement, a 12 percentage point decrease from a few months prior. And support had declined again by 2023, when about half of Americans said they supported the movement (51%).

Today, support seems to have leveled off. Some 52% of Americans say they strongly or somewhat support the movement, and 45% say they oppose it.

Over the years, support for the Black Lives Matter movement has remained high among Black adults, Democrats and young adults. That continues to be the case today, with majorities of these groups expressing support:

• 76% of Black adults vs. 61% each among Hispanic and Asian adults and 45% of White adults
• 84% of Democrats vs. 22% of Republicans
• 61% of 18- to 29-year-olds vs. 54% of 30- to 49-year-olds and 47% of those 50 and older

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Half of U.S. adults say they feel exhausted extremely or very often when thinking about the state of race and racial issues in the U.S. today. This is larger than the shares who say they often experience other feelings we asked about. Over half of Democrats (54%) and 48% of Republicans say they feel exhausted when they think about these issues.

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While some thought of the summer of 2020 as a time of racial reckoning, views about the state of racial equality in America changed only slightly between 2019 and 2020.

In September 2020, 49% of Americans said the country hadn’t gone far enough on racial equality for Black people, up from 45% in 2019. Today, that figure stands at 43%.

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In recent years, Americans have become less optimistic about the future of racial equality for Black people. Among those who say the U.S. still has work to do in this area, 51% now say it is very or somewhat likely that Black people will eventually have equal rights with White people. This is down from 60% in September 2020.

As was the case five years ago, most White adults (61%) who say the country still has work to do say it’s likely that Black people will eventually have equal rights with White people. This is much larger than the shares of Black (32%), Hispanic (50%) and Asian adults (41%) who say the same.

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