Gallup: Most people don't like the society's mistreatment of Asian Americans and immigrants

Asian Americans may have more allies than they think. A new nationwide poll finds that most Americans don't like the way Asian Americans are being treated after a series of violent attacks in the past year.

A Gallup survey saw the was society treans people of Asian descent has fallen sharply this year, from 60% to 46%. This 14-percentage-point drop follows a 15-point decline between 2016 and 2020. Another way to say this is that more Americans think society is not treating Asian Americans fairly or nicely.

Before 2016, Gallup typically found more than seven in 10 Americans were satisfied with the way society treated AAPI.

Views on the treatment of Asian people have taken a sharp turn amid high-profile incidents of violence aimed at AAPI since the COVID-19 pandemic began. And while small majorities were content with the treatment of immigrants in the early 2000s, Americans are now the least satisfied with how this group is treated out of any group polled in the 20-year trend.

Americans are aware of society's flaws

Generally, Americans are not fully satisfied with how most groups are treated in society, and Gallup has recorded a larger decline in satisfaction with these groups' treatment in recent years. Levels of satisfaction with the treatment of Black, Hispanic, Asian and Arab people, as well as immigrants and women, have reached their lowest points in this latest poll or in recent ones.

These findings, from a Gallup poll conducted June 1-July 5, come after a year in which violence against Asian Americans spiked in several major cities and garnered significant media attention.

White (50%) and Hispanic (44%) adults are more likely than Black adults (30%) to be satisfied with the way Asian people are treated, but satisfaction has declined to a similar degree among all three groups.

At the same time, U.S. adults perceive that relations between Asian and White people, as well as Asian and Black people, have deteriorated. Double-digit drops are seen among those who say relations are "very" or "somewhat" good between White and Asian people (67%) and Black and Asian people (58%).

While majorities of Americans still view relations between these groups positively, the latest figures represent new lows in their respective trends.

Bad news for the GOP on immigration

Also, contrary to the belief by white supremacists and Trump backers who have made anti-immigrant actions a cornerstone of their values, Americans still favor immigrants and do not like they way U.S. society is treating them. 

The finding suggests that the GOP may be making a huge mistake by making attacks against immigrants and restrictive immigration policy a major part of their campaiigns.

Satisfaction with the treatment of immigrants has waned over the past 20 years, with the current 33% marking the lowest total percentage of those who are very or somewhat satisfied that Gallup has recorded for any group in this time. The prior low was 35% for the treatment of Black people in last year's survey.

Small majorities were satisfied with the way immigrants were treated in the early 2000s, but this figure gradually declined over the course of the three previous U.S. presidencies, during which no major legislation on immigration issues was passed. Since President Joe Biden took office in January, legislation to provide pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants has stalled, as well as other bills to protect farm workers and young immigrants.

Despite the new low in satisfaction with the treatment of immigrants in the U.S., Americans' acceptance of immigrants has remained relatively stable for years in Gallup's Migrant Acceptance Index.

On a relative basis, Americans are less satisfied with the way society treats immigrants and Black people than the way Asian people are treated. The 15% of Black Americans and 37% of Hispanic Americans satisfied with the treatment of Black people are the lowest Gallup has measured to date within those subgroups, though not meaningfully different from the 2018 or 2020 readings.

Similarly, less than half of Americans are satisfied with how Hispanic (46%) and Arab people (43%) are treated in society, with both figures similar to recent measurements.

In contrast, slim majorities are satisfied with the treatment of women (53%) and Jewish people (51%), while a larger majority of Americans are satisfied with how White people are treated (68%). The public was more satisfied with how women were treated earlier in the trend, ranging from 63% to 72% satisfied from 2001 to 2016. After the "Me Too" movement took hold in 2017, figures have been lower -- between 53% and 54% since 2018.

This is the first time Gallup has asked about the treatment of Jewish people and White people. The new measure for Jewish people comes after a spate of antisemitic attacks and hostility following the Israeli-Palestinian conflict this year in Gaza.

Not surprisingly, the survey found across all groups, White Americans are slightly more satisfied than the national average with the way people are treated in society, while Black and Hispanic adults are less satisfied than the U.S. average. On several measures, Black adults are far less satisfied with the treatment of groups than both White and Hispanic adults.

The bad news? Gallup's trends spanning two decades have not found any improvements over time in how Americans perceive various groups are treated, only stable or declining ratings. Thus, it is unclear if the 2020-2021 polls on the societal treatment of different people represent rock bottom or if these perceptions will only get worse.