What does Miss Maudie think about the people of Maycomb, and is she correct in her assertions?

Miss Maudie is presented as one of the more sympathetic characters in To Kill a Mockingbird. She's a very friendly, laid-back woman with a fine wit and a good sense of humor. She's also acutely aware of the myriad social hypocrisies and injustices that disfigure everyday life in Maycomb.
Yet she still retains a firm belief that most of the townsfolk are basically good people. In that sense, she's like Atticus, with whom she shares a number of character traits. After Tom Robinson's unjust conviction, Jem tells Miss Maudie that he used to think that people in Maycomb were the best in the world, but now he no longer believes that. But Miss Maudie takes a more nuanced view. She's equally disillusioned by the outcome of the trial, but she still thinks that some progress had been made in making the townsfolk at least stop and think about the issues surrounding the case. As Miss Maudie's observations are related to what may or may not happen in the future—whether racial attitudes in Maycomb will actually change—her evaluation of the townsfolk has still yet to be validated.