Quarter of U.S. Concerned About Civil Rights

After concern about civil rights peaked in the United States in early 2021, the share of respondents identifying it as an important issue for the country quickly dropped again – back to 2019 levels as of Q4 2021 and Q1 2022. It has stayed on this level ever since and as of Q1 of 2024, 26 percent in the U.S. said they considered civil rights important for the nation. This is according to the Statista Consumer Insights.

Throughout 2020, civil rights took center stage in U.S. political discourse after the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in May triggered mass protests and a reckoning with the still-rampant racial injustice in the country.

As of Q2 2021, 32 percent of respondents still named civil rights as an important issue for the United States. Higher ranked issues at that time were the economic situation, unemployment, health and social security (at 43-45 percent as the Delta variant intensified concern about Covid-19 once more) as well as inflation (35 percent) and crime (33 percent).

By Q1 of 2022, concern about civil rights was additionally overtaken by concern about climate and the environment as well as concern about education, immigration, poverty and housing, delegating its importance back to an also-ran.