Most Americans think relations between white and black communities have gotten worse since President Obama was elected, according to a new Bloomberg Politics poll.
The poll released Sunday also revealed deep racial divides on recent decisions by grand juries in St. Louis County, Mo., and New York City declining to indict police officers in the deaths of unarmed black men.
In the Dec. 3-5 poll of 1,001 adults, 53 percent said race relations had gotten worse since Obama, the nation’s first black president, took office in 2009. That figure included 56 percent of white respondents and 45 percent of black respondents.
Only 9 percent of respondents said race relations had gotten better under Obama, including just 3 percent who said they had gotten a lot better. Thirty-six percent said relations had stayed about the same.
Reactions to the Aug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., have highlighted racial tensions in the United States, and the poll found a sharp racial divide in reactions to the Nov. 24 grand jury decision not to charge Officer Darren Wilson, with 25 percent of white respondents and 89 percent of black respondents disagreeing.
The decision Wednesday by a New York grand jury not to charge a police officer in the July 17 choking death of Eric Garner drew less racial disparities, with 52 percent of white respondents and 90 percent of black respondents disagreeing.
Many conservatives and libertarians see Garner’s death, which was captured on videotape, as a more clear example of excessive police force.
