Gallup Poll: Blacks Worse Off Now Than in Obama's First Term

African Americans say that their lives are worse off during President Barack Obama's second term than during his first four years in the White House, a new Gallup Poll released Thursday says.

In a "well-being" poll conducted by Gallup and Healthways, Americans were asked whether they considered themselves as "thriving," "struggling" or "suffering" based on a numbered scale.

Their responses were then averaged on a percentage basis. They were asked these questions earlier this year and in 2012.

The results:

Do you consider your life to be "thriving"?

• Blacks: 53 percent in 2015; 57 percent in 2012; down 4 percent.
• Whites: 54 percent in 2015; 52 percent in 2012; up 2 percent.
• Hispanics: 55 percent in 2015; 54 percent in 2012; up 1 percent.

Gallup attributed the ratings drop among African Americans to the "highly publicized civil unrest during Obama's second term, such as the events of Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore."

For white Americans, particularly Republicans, Gallup said that their increased ratings pointed to "substantial electoral gains Republicans in Congress made during this period, as well as hopes of retaking the White House in 2016."

The surveys were based on interviews Gallup conducted between Jan. 2 and Dec. 30, 2012, and from Jan. 2 to Sept. 15 of this year, with margins of error ranging from 1 percent to 3 percent.

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