It’s been five years since George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer — a moment that sparked global protests, public lament and a cultural spotlight on racial injustice unlike anything America had seen in a generation. From prayer vigils to corporate DEI campaigns to millions flooding the streets, it seemed — briefly — like something might finally shift.
But a new study from the Pew Research Center shows that most Americans don’t believe that shift ever happened.
Seventy-two percent of U.S. adults say the increased attention to race and inequality following Floyd’s death did not lead to improvements in the lives of Black Americans. In 2020, a majority thought it would. Today, fewer than three in 10 still believe that it did.
Support for the Black Lives Matter movement has dropped as well. In June 2020, 67 percent of Americans expressed support. Now, it’s down to 52 percent. Support remains strong among Black adults (76 percent), Democrats (84 percent) and young adults (61 percent), but overall, momentum has cooled.
When it comes to policing, the story is the same. In the months after Floyd’s death, most Americans said police were doing a poor job of using the right amount of force, treating people equally and holding officers accountable. Views improved slightly by 2023, but fewer than half of Americans still say police are doing a good job in these areas — and the number of people who say things have gotten better between police and Black communities? Just 11 percent.
According to Pew, 50 percent of Americans say they feel “extremely” or “very” exhausted when thinking about race in America. Among Democrats, that number jumps to 54 percent. Anger and fear are also high — but so is apathy, especially among Republicans, 39 percent of whom say they feel “uninterested” when thinking about racial issues today.
There’s also a growing sense of pessimism about where things are heading. Among Americans who say the country hasn’t made enough progress on racial equality, only 51 percent believe it’s likely that Black people will eventually have equal rights with white people — down from 60 percent in 2020. That drop is steepest among Black adults, the group least likely to say equality feels within reach.
In the end, the data paints a sobering picture: five years after what many hoped would be a turning point, Americans are more tired, more divided and far less certain that real progress is possible. The energy of 2020 hasn’t disappeared — but for many, it’s been replaced by something heavier. Not apathy, necessarily. Just a sense that the road is longer than we thought.
