WASHINGTON — Almost eight years after electing a black president, vast majorities of blacks and Hispanics think President Barack Obama at least tried to make race relations in the United States better, according to a poll released Monday.
But only about half of whites think Obama made race relations better or at least tried to make race relations better but failed. Almost a third of whites said the president “made race relations worse.”
The Pew Research Center report also suggested there is still a stark difference in attitudes about race relations among racial and ethnic groups.
For example, whites were split on the status of race relations, with 46 percent saying they are generally good overall and 45 percent saying they are generally bad. But blacks were less optimistic, with 61 percent saying that race relations are bad and 34 percent saying that they are good.
Many people had hoped that Obama’s historic election would bring about better race relations, said Juliana Horowitz, a Pew associate director who helped craft the poll.
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