PRINCETON, N.J., Aug. 24 (UPI) -- A third of Americans say race relations have improved under President Obama but a plurality say they haven't changed, a Gallup-USA Today poll indicated.
Thirty-five percent said they think race relations improved while 23 percent said relations got worse, results released Wednesday indicated. Forty-one percent said they thought race relations hadn't change because of Obama's presidency.
The latest results aren't as broad as a Gallup survey in October 2009 when 41 percent said relations had improved and 22 percent said they worsened.
Before Obama's election, in June-July 2008, 56 percent of Americans said race relations would get better if Obama were elected, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said.
The poll also found a decline in perceptions Obama's election was one of the most important advances for U.S. blacks in the last 100 years -- 42 percent expressed this view now, less than the 58 percent who said so in 2009.
Gallup said the decline was evident largely among whites, falling nearly 20 percentage points from 56 percent in 2009 to 37 percent in the latest survey. Among blacks, the decline was from 71 percent in 2009 to 65 percent in the latest poll.
Results are based on nationwide telephone interviews conducted with 1,319 adults Aug. 4-7. The overall margin of error is 4 percentage points. Results based on the sample of 376 non-Hispanic blacks have a margin of error of 6 percentage points. Results based on the sample of 796 non-Hispanic whites have a margin of error of 5 percentage points.
