Gen Z Poll: Half Of Young White Males Say Diversity Harms White People

Nearly one-third of young people, and almost half of white young men, say efforts to increase diversity harm white people.

About one-third (32%) of young people, including 38% of white young people, believe efforts to increase diversity almost always come at the expense of whites.

• White young men are more divided. Nearly half (48%) believe diversity efforts will harm white people, while more than half (52%) disagree. Only 28% of young white women believe efforts that promote diversity harm white people.

More than 1 in 3 white young people believe “reverse” discrimination is a serious problem.

About one-third (36%) of white young people say discrimination against white people is as serious as that experienced by minority groups. Only 16% of black, 19% of API, and 28% of Hispanic young people agree.

• White young men are more likely than white young women (43% vs. 29%, respectively) to say discrimination against whites is as serious a problem as discrimination against other groups.

• A majority (55%) of white Americans overall—including roughly equal numbers of white men (55%) and white women (53%)—agree that discrimination against white people has become as big a problem as discrimination against black people and other minority groups.

Young men and women have starkly different views on gender discrimination.
More than six in ten (63%) young women believe that women face a lot of discrimination in the U.S., while only 43% of young men say the same. A majority (56%) of young men, including nearly two-thirds (65%) of white young men, say that women do not confront a substantial amount of discrimination in the U.S. today.

Nearly four in ten (39%) young people say they consider themselves to be feminist. Six in ten (60%) say they do not. Willingness to adopt this label varies significantly among young people, by race, ethnicity, gender, education, and region.

Young women are about twice as likely as young men to identify as feminist (52% vs. 27%, respectively). Nearly three-quarters (73%) of young men say they do not describe themselves as feminist.

Feminist young men are far less likely to identify as masculine than those who reject the label. Only half (50%) of feminist young men identify as mostly or completely masculine, while nearly three-quarters (73%) of young men who are not feminist identify as mostly or completely masculine.

White and black young people are notable in their eschewing of the feminist label. Slightly more than one-third of black (34%) and white young people (37%) identify as feminist. In contrast, close to half (45%) of Hispanic young people and more than six in ten (62%) API young people consider themselves to be feminist.

Young people are somewhat divided over whether they believe racism is more of a problem for “other generations” than it is for their own generation. Close to half (45%) of young people agree that “racism is more of a problem for other generations than it is for my generation,” while a majority (55%) disagree.

There are racial differences among young people over this question. Close to half of white (49%) and Hispanic young people (45%) say racism is less of a problem for people in their generation, while only about one-third of black (34%) and API young people (35%) agree.

There is a considerable divergence of opinion in the views of white young men and women. While fewer than four in ten (38%) white young men agree that black people have gotten less than they deserve in recent years, a majority (54%) of white young women express this view. More than six in ten (62%) white young men do not believe black people have gotten less than they deserve over the past few years.

Opinions on building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border vary somewhat by race, but a majority of all racial and ethnic groups oppose its construction. Close to two-thirds (64%) of white young people and overwhelming majorities of Hispanic (80%), black (87%), and API young people (92%) oppose the construction of a wall along the border. About one-third (35%) of white young people support this policy. White young men are somewhat more likely than young women to favor building a wall (43% vs. 29%, respectively).

The issue reveals stark racial and ethnic divisions among young people. White young people (45%) are more than twice as likely as their black (20%) and API peers (15%) to support temporarily banning people from some majority Muslim countries from entering the U.S. Fewer than three in ten (29%) Hispanic young people say the same. A slim majority (51%) of white young men favor temporarily preventing people from majority Muslim countries from entering the U.S., a view that is shared by substantially fewer (37%) white young women.

No group of young people is more supportive of banning people from Muslim countries from entering the U.S. than young white evangelical Protestants. Seven in ten (70%) white evangelical Protestant young people favor temporarily banning people from some majority Muslim countries from entering the U.S., as do a majority (56%) of young white Catholics. Fewer than half (44%) of young white mainline Protestants express support for the travel restriction. In contrast, only one-third (33%) of religiously non-Christian young people, and fewer than one-quarter of Hispanic Catholic (23%), religiously unaffiliated (23%), and black Protestant young people (20%) are in favor of restricting travel by people coming from majority Muslim countries.