Most Americans believe race relations are ‘generally bad’

Results from a New York Times/CBS News poll found that nearly 60 percent of Americans think race relations in the U.S. are “generally bad”.

The poll, which surveyed 1,205 people from across the country, asked respondents about a number of racial concerns.

African-Americans are roughly as dissatisfied with race relations in the present day as they have been in the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, in accordance with a grim ballot launched Friday.

Black Americans have an especially bleak view of race relations: When Obama began his presidency, 30 percent of Black Americans thought race relations are “generally bad”.

About six in 10 Americans, 57 percent, describe race relations in the US as poor, slightly down from April but 13 points higher than the previous several months in the poll. Are politicians focusing on the most important issues?

Seventy-five percent of Americans overall said they felt “mostly safe” about the police in their communities, compared with 81 percent for whites and 51 percent for blacks.

More specifically, although 62 percent of white Americans think the Obama administration’s policies treat both blacks and whites equally, more than a quarter of whites (27 percent) think his policies favour blacks over whites, up from just 12 percent in 2010. Among whites, more disapprove than approve (50 percent – 40 percent), while 72 percent blacks approve of his performance.

The poll also showed that 47 percent say Obama, as the nation’s first black president, has pushed black people in America father apart, while only 15 percent believe the president has united them.