Americans View of Race Relations is Worst in Two Decades

Americans View of Race Relations is Worst in Two Decades

Despite, or perhaps because of Barack Obama being in the White House - many feel he's done more harm than good to race relations in America - an NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll "showed the most pessimistic assessment of racial issues in almost two decades."

A majority of Americans, 57% now say they are bad.

In the wake of protests over the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police, just four in ten Americans told pollsters that they believe race relations in the United States are "good," while 57 percent disagreed. And nearly a quarter - 23 percent - classified the current state of the country's racial issues as "very bad.

The data showed a dramatic slide from just 18 months ago, when a July 2013 poll indicated that a majority - 52 percent - offered an optimistic view of race relations. And throughout President Barack Obama's first term in the White House, more than seven in ten Americans said race relations were good, with a record 77 percent giving a positive assessment shortly after Obama's election as the first black president.