Report · Culture

Americans doubt they could reliably spot a high- or low-racial-bias place

Reading

Americans are lukewarm about their own ability to tell whether a place is high in anti-Black racial bias: the single largest share (31%) say they would be neither good nor bad at it, according to a May 2026 Verasight survey.

A 58% majority say they would be at least somewhat good at determining racial bias, but that includes just 13% who say very good. Far fewer (11%) say they would be at least somewhat bad, including 2% who say very bad.

Topline

single choice

Topline distribution

Americans doubt they could reliably spot a high- or low-racial-bias place.

How well do you think you would be able to determine if a place is high in anti-Black racial bias?

  • Neither good or bad at determining racial bias 30.9%
  • Somewhat good at determining racial bias 29.5%
  • Good at determining racial bias 15.9%
  • Very good at determining racial bias 13.0%
  • Somewhat bad at determining racial bias 5.4%
  • Bad at determining racial bias 3.5%
  • Very bad at determining racial bias 1.8%

2026 · base n 512 · +/- 4.6%

daily_life

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Methodology

Full methodology
Mode
Verasight panel recruited via random address-based sampling, random person-to-person text messaging, and dynamic online targeting
Field dates
2026-05-11 → 2026-05-11
Base (unweighted)
512
Margin of error
+/- 4.6%
Module
daily_life

Source

Citation

Verasight SPSP Omnibus Survey #2026-045, fielded May 11-11, 2026, N=512 US adults age 18+, +/- 4.6%.

https://reports.verasight.io/r/spsp26

Verasight survey methodology

How Verasight conducts surveys.

This page describes the Verasight general survey contract, separate from how the Data Library packages it. When a wave report is published, its field dates, sample sizes, and module breakdown are listed in that report.

Mode
Verasight panel recruited via random address-based sampling, random person-to-person text messaging, and dynamic online targeting.
Population
US adults age 18+.
Sample design
Surveys are run as omnibus or single-topic waves. Omnibus waves are split into modules with their own respondent set, typically around one thousand respondents per module.
Field window
Each wave specifies its own field dates. Most omnibus waves field across roughly two weeks.
Weighting
Per-module weighting to CPS targets including age, race and ethnicity, sex, income, education, region, and metropolitan status.
Partisanship benchmark
Pew Research Center's NPORS benchmarking surveys, three-year running average.
Vote benchmark
2024 presidential vote population benchmarks.
Margin of error
Typically about plus or minus 3.4 to 3.6 percent per module at standard module sizes. Question-level MoE is recomputed when a base shrinks materially below the module baseline.
Reporting
The canonical report hub is reports.verasight.io. Verified legacy reports remain on their original hosts, and unpublished reports are marked pending.
Transparency
Verasight is a member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research Transparency Initiative.

The canonical report hub is reports.verasight.io; older reports may remain on verified legacy hosts.