More people are identifying as multiracial, taking on more complex identities that researchers and politicians are struggling to understand
In the final weeks before Election Day, the campaigns have targeted their fight for votes to particular racial and ethnic groups, with Vice President Kamala Harris rolling out an “opportunity agenda for Black men” and Donald Trump courting Latino voters in a town hall hosted by Univision in the past week.
Yet increasingly, the categories familiar to recent generations—white, Black, Asian, Native American, Native Hawaiian and Hispanic—are dissolving rapidly, yielding to more fluid and complex identities that researchers and politicians are struggling to understand.
By one definition, the U.S. multiracial population surged from nine million to almost 34 million from 2010 to 2020, or from about 3% to more than 10% of the population, according to the Census Bureau.
