Negative views about race relations in the United States are at a level not seen since the 1992 Rodney Riots in Los Angeles, according to a new poll.
In a CBS News/New York Times poll taken after the shooting deaths of two black men by police and subsequent deadly attack on Dallas police, just 26 percent of U.S. adults think race relations are mostly good — down from 37 percent last year.
Another 69 percent say relations are mostly bad, just above the 68 percent who said the same in May 1992 during the riots over police brutality against King, a taxi driver.
In 2009, shortly after President Obama took office, 66 percent had positive views of U.S. race relations. The positive numbers have been dropping steadily since summer 2014, when black teen Michael Brown was shot dead by white police officer Darren Wilson in Missouri.
People are also increasingly pessimistic about race relations improving. Only 9 percent think race relations are getting better, compared to 59 percent who say they are getting worse.
Views on race relations aren’t divided by race, the poll found. More than half of whites, 57 percent, think race relations are bad, compared to 68 percent of blacks. And just 37 percent of whites and 28 percent of blacks say relations are good.
The poll said more people agree with the Black Lives Matter movement than disagree. The movement aims to reduce police brutality against blacks, and 41 percent said they agree with the movement, compared to 25 percent who disagree.
The poll, conducted July 8-12, was conducted among a random sample of 1,600 adults nationwide. It carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
