Most Americans believe racism is still a major problem in their society, survey finds

But people are split on whether the issue receives too much attention or too little

A sign in the window of a door of a Starbucks explains the store will close early for racial bias training (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)

Affirming the reasoning for thousands of Starbucks employees attending racial bias training, a new survey found most Americans believe racism is a paramount issue.

Just under two-thirds of respondents to an NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll said that racism remains a “major problem” in American society. Nearly three-quarters said racial discrimination against blacks represented a serious issue.

While 30 per cent of people said racism was not a major problem, they still agreed that it exists. Only a tiny sliver, 3 per cent, said it does not exist.

Other responses suggested that Americans remain deeply divided about the role race plays in their society, even as strong two-thirds majorities said they interacted with a mix of people from different races at work, school and social situations.

Many people are pessimistic about race relations, the poll found, with a plurality (45 per cent), saying they were getting worse while one-fifth of people felt things were improving. A third of respondents said things were about the same.

But statistically equivalent shares of people believed that race draws either too much or too little attention. While a majority (57 per cent) of people agreed that “white people benefit from advantages in society that black people do not have”, a large chunk (41 per cent) said that dynamic matters little or not at all.

People offered those responses after a series of incidents in which authorities have been called on African-Americans who were not breaking the law, forcing discussion of the ways prejudiced beliefs shape everyday interactions.

Starbucks mandated training for some 8,000 employees after two black men were arrested at a Philadelphia location of the coffee shop chain as they awaited a friend, prompting a national outcry.

Soon after the Starbucks incident prompted an apology from the chain’s CEO, Nordstrom Rack’s president apologised after a store manager called the police on a group of young African-American men. In another situation, a white woman called the police on a black Yale University student slumbering in a common area.