Poll: 57% of Americans say race relations in U.S. are bad

In the wake of protests over the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police, just four in ten Americans told pollsters that they believe race relations in the United States are “good,” while 57 percent disagreed. And nearly a quarter – 23 percent – classified the current state of the country’s racial issues as “very bad.”

The data showed a dramatic slide from just 18 months ago, when a July 2013 poll indicated that a majority – 52 percent – offered an optimistic view of race relations. And throughout President Barack Obama’s first term in the White House, more than seven in ten Americans said race relations were good, with a record 77 percent giving a positive assessment shortly after Obama’s election as the first black president.

The recent data most closely matches a NBC/WSJ survey in October 1995, the same month that a jury acquitted black football star O.J. Simpson in the murder of his ex-wife. The verdict – decided by a nearly all-black jury – prompted a national debate about Simpson’s innocence, exposing a sharp split between many white and black observers.