Despite the first black president of the United States being in office for almost eight years, a
Rasmussen Reports poll released Tuesday finds that 60 percent of U.S. voters think race relations are worse than when President Barack Obama was first elected in 2008.
Only 9 percent of voters say that race relations are better now.
The number who say they are worse is up an astounding 18 percentage points from the 42 percent who thought so in late 2014.
Other findings in the poll include:
- Among whites, 66 percent say race relations have gotten worse since Obama's election, while 38 percent of blacks feel that way and 51 percent of other minorities agree.
- 84 percent of Republicans think race relations have deteriorated, as do 67 percent of Independents, but only 32 percent of Democrats say that race relations are worse.
- Only 13 percent say life for black Americans has gotten better since Obama's 2008 election, while 41 percent think it has gotten worse.
- Some 20 percent of voters say government has tried to do too much to improve the lives of young black Americans, while 43 percent think it has done too little.
- Among black voters, 71 percent say the government has not done enough to improve the lives of young black people.
- Only 12 percent of voters believe the government is most responsible for improving conditions for young black Americans, while 37 percent think their parents are most responsible and 35 percent say it is mostly up to the young people themselves.
The survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted on July 12-13. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points, with a 95 percent level of confidence.
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