WASHINGTON, June 27 (UPI) — Only a third of Americans say Barack Obama, the nation’s first black president, has improved race relations and quarter them say he’s made matters worse, according to a study released Monday by Pew Research Center.
The survey shows the United States remains deeply divided on racial discrimination, barriers to black progress and prospects for change.
Fifty-one percent of black people surveyed said Obama has made progress; only 28 percent of white people agreed. Overall, it was 34 percent positive.
Conversely, 34 percent of black people said Obama tried and failed to improve the situation and 5 percent said he made it worse. Among whites, 24 percent say he tried but failed and 32 percent said it became worse. Overall, 25 percent said he made things worse.
The poll was conducted between Feb. 29 and May 8 among 3,769 adults, including 1,799 who are white, 1,004 who are black and 654 who are Hispanic. The overall margin of error was 2.2 percentage points in the phone survey.
An overwhelming majority of black respondents (88 percent) said the United States needs to continue making changes for black people to have equal rights with whites, but 43 percent are skeptical changes will ever occur.
Among white people, 53 percent say the country still has work to do for black people to achieve equal rights with whites, and only 11 percent express doubt that these changes will come.
The survey found a racial economic gap with a median household income among white people at $71,300 compared with $43,300 for black families.
They have widely different perceptions about what life is like in the United States.
Forty-eight percent of white people said they are very satisfied with the quality of life in their community compared with about a third (34 percent) of black people.
Financially, 41 percent of black people said they have had trouble paying their bills compared with whites at 25 percent.
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