Majority of U.S. Hispanics experience discrimination, unfair treatment: poll

More than half of Hispanics in the United States say they have experienced racial discrimination, and the race relations in the country are generally bad, found a new poll by the Pew Research Center.

Fifty-two percent of U.S. Hispanics say they have experienced discrimination and being treated unfairly, according to the poll.

Meanwhile, 58 percent of Hispanics say the race relations in the U.S. are generally bad, a similar share to blacks.

Hispanics' experience with discrimination or being treated unfairly varies greatly by age, it added.

Among Hispanics aged between 18 and 29, 65 percent say they have experienced discrimination or unfair treatment, while only 35 percent of Hispanics aged above 50 say the same.

The poll also discovered that Hispanics born in the U.S. (62 percent) are more likely than immigrants (41 percent) to say they have experienced discrimination or unfair treatment.

There are also differences by race. For example, 56 percent of non-white Hispanics say this has happened at some point in their lives, a higher share than that among white Hispanics (41 percent), according to the poll.

There are estimated 56.6 million Hispanics living in the U.S. in 2015, a major voting bloc that could well decide the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

Millions of people from Latin America have immigrated to the U.S. in recent decades, driving Hispanic population growth in the 1980s and 1990s, according to the Pew Research Center. Endit