CBS/NYT Poll: Negative Views of Race Relations at Highest Point Since 1992

Negative views about race relations in the United States are now at a level not seen since the 1992 riots in Los Angeles following the Rodney King verdict, a new CBS News/New York Times poll taken after the shootings of two black men by white police officers and the subsequent killings of five police officers in Dallas shows.

In the poll, conducted between July 8, the day after the Dallas officers were killed, and concluding on Tuesday:

• 26 percent think race relations are mostly good, down 11 percent from last year;
• 69 percent say relations are mostly bad, compared to 68 percent in May 1992.

The positive numbers for race relations have been dropping steadily since 2014 after conflicts between blacks and police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, where 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer.

In 2009, the positive views reached 66 percent, shortly after Barack Obama took office, and overall rose above 50 percent during the 2000s, and typically white people have a better viewpoint on the matter.

However, that changed in the current poll:

Whites:

• Relations bad: 57 percent;
• Relations good: 37 percent.

Blacks:

Relations bad: 68 percent;
Relations good: 28 percent.

There is also growing pessimism about if race relations are improving:

• 9 percent of Americans think race relations are getting better;
• 59 percent think they are getting worse.

The Dallas shootings caught more whites than blacks by surprise, the poll also found:

• 54 percent overall were surprised;
• 55 percent of whites were surprised;
• 52 percent of blacks were not surprised.

And more Americans agree with the Black Lives Matter movement than disagree:

• 41 percent agree;
• 25 percent disagree;
• A third have no opinion;
• 70 percent of blacks agree;
• 37 percent of whites agree;
• 31 percent of whites disagree;
• 28 percent of whites have no opinion.

The poll also found that white Americans are more likely to believe their local police departments are doing a  good job:

• 80 percent of white Americans say the police do a good job;
• Fewer than half of black Americans agree;
• 34 percent of black Americans say their local police do just a fair job;
• 23 percent say the police do a poor job.
• 80 percent of Americans overall say the police make them feel safe;
• 85 percent of white Americans agree;
• 45 percent of black Americans say the police make them feel mostly anxious.
• 75 percent of blacks believe the police are more likely to use deadly force against a black person than a white person;
• 56 percent of white Americans believe race makes no difference.

The poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,600 adults, and carried a margin of error of 3 points.

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