I think it's quite nuanced. When I was growing up the same people existed in about the same ratio. We used to laugh at the KKK marches and neo-nazi's. We didn't engage them aside from civil debate. They were allowed to have their little meetings and marches. They were a joke. A powerless husk of what they used to be and full of wannabe's. The only thing most people did was point and laugh (when you engage them, yell, or assault them you only embolden their resolve by making them victims).

Then the election came along. While Trump can be an idiot I don't think he's necessarily racist. Not in the sense that those people are. However he was treated as such by the opposite side in the public eye. That in turn fed those groups with confidence. The political discourse became more heated on both ends which caused even more tempers, more boldness. Now nobody will talk. Everyone is in an "us vs. them" mentality. The extremists on both sides have taken over. Things will only get worse unless the level headed can regain control over the situation and chill everyone out. The right needs to stop assuming anyone on the left is a Communist/Socialist idiotic moron. The left needs to stop label anyone that doesn't agree emphatically with them as a Nazi, racist, white supremacist, or whatever else.

I just posted this artible about how hate crimes rose immediate after Trump was elected.
[washingtonpost.com]