Obama and Race Relations: Fewer See Gains, but Hopes Persevere

Jan. 18, 2010— -- Views that Barack Obama's presidency has improved race relations have faded since he took office, and on this Martin Luther King Jr. Day most Americans say blacks have yet to achieve racial equality in this country. Yet hopes persevere, and most African-Americans and whites alike continue to see Obama's election as a sign of progress.

While the sense of a positive change has faded across racial lines, the biggest drop has occurred among blacks. As he took office a year ago, 58 percent of Americans said Obama's presidency had helped race relations; fewer today, 41 percent say so. It's fallen by 15 points among whites -- but more steeply, by 24 points, among blacks.

Click here for PDF with charts and questionnaire.

Nonetheless almost all blacks, 96 percent in this ABC News/Washington Post poll, approve of Obama's performance in office, 75 percent "strongly" so. Fewer than half as many whites approve of Obama, largely reflecting longstanding political predispositions, with blacks more than twice as apt as whites to be Democrats.

Moreover, even with fewer seeing actual improvement, the number of Americans who say Obama's election represents progress for all blacks, rather than just an individual success, has held essentially steady, at 64 percent, including two-thirds of whites and seven in 10 African-Americans.

In another measure, just 37 percent of Americans think African-Americans have achieved racial equality in this country -- including just 11 percent of blacks themselves, half what it was a year ago. Nonetheless an additional three in 10 adults, including nearly four in 10 blacks, think they "will soon."

OBAMA/POLITICS: The decline in the sense that Obama has improved race relations mirrors his overall job approval rating, down from 68 percent a month after he took office to 53 percent now. He's held essentially steady among Democrats, as well as among blacks, while losing support in other groups. Among whites, Obama's job rating has fallen from an initial 61 percent to 44 percent today.