Poll: Fewer see race as big problem

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Fewer Americans said racism isn't as a large societal problem in America today as it was in 1996, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll indicates.

With the inauguration of Barack Obama as the first African-American U.S. president as a backdrop, the survey found slightly more than a quarter of all Americans said they see racism as a large societal problem, less than half of the 54 percent who said so about a dozen years ago, results of the poll released Monday indicate.

While the number of Americans to whom racism is a problem has dropped nationwide, the survey found little has change in the level of racism people perceive in their local communities.

In the latest survey, 44 percent of blacks and 22 percent of whites see racism as a large societal problem. Conversely, 28 percent of whites and 15 percent of blacks said they see racism as a small problem, or no problem at all.

Seventy-three percent of all those surveyed said blacks have reached or will soon reach equality, including three-quarters of whites and just over half of blacks. However, nearly two-thirds of blacks and 43 percent of whites said they think blacks in their communities experience racial discrimination.

The telephone survey was conducted Tuesday-Friday among 1,079 adults. The overall margin of error is 3 percentage.