Views about gender equality reflected experiences with gender discrimination, particularly at work. Women, Democrats and college graduates were much more likely to say they were discriminated against because of their gender, and more likely to think gender equality had not gone far enough.

“Male privilege allows men to be free to move about in public without threat of harassment,” a woman, 54, told Pew, which published responses anonymously. “When they speak, they are assumed to have some authority without having to prove it. They still earn more money than women.”

But Republican men were more likely than Democratic men to say they had experienced discrimination. And while only 10 percent of the public said the country had gone too far toward gender equality, 23 percent of men who said they experienced discrimination said so.

The largest shares of both men and women who said they experienced gender discrimination said it came in hiring, pay or promotions. Ten percent of women said they had experienced harassment or catcalling.

People who say women have it easier these days say women get preferential treatment in job opportunities, and those who think men have it easier say they have better pay and job opportunities.

When asked how women have it easier, one respondent, a 53-year-old man, said, “Lower standards for the same positions in order to get more women for those positions.” Another man, 46, said: “Everyone is on the prowl for perceived injustice and attempts to elevate women of all ages. Not so much for males.”

Explaining why men have it easier, a 29-year-old man said, “You simply need to look at the percentages of male C.E.O.s and relative salaries to see there is likely a systematic advantage to being male.”