Blacks, Whites, and Latinos Largely Pessimistic About Current and Future State of Race Relations; More Than Half Believe Race Relations Did Get Worse Under Obama and Are Getting Worse Under Trump

African-Americans, whites and Latinos are united in their pessimism about the current and future state of race relations under President Donald Trump, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll.

More than half of Americans believe race relations in the country have worsened over the last year and will continue to deteriorate under Trump.

The poll found that 51 percent of registered voters think relations have gotten worse while only 10 percent think they have improved. And voters don’t have much hope that things will get better with Trump in the White House: Fifty-one percent also said they expect relations to worsen under Trump.

This gloomy outlook spans racial lines, according to Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the national survey. Sixty percent of Latinos, 57 percent of African-Americans and 50 percent of whites think relations have gotten worse over the last year.

“Usually, it’s a different response from different groups,” Miringoff said. “But it’s practically uniform among blacks, whites and Latinos that it will deteriorate.”

There’s little optimism about the future. Among African-Americans, 73 percent said race relations would worsen under Trump, 9 percent said things would improve and 12 percent said they expected relations to remain the same.

“I’m not sure if everything is going to be OK or not,” said Tessie Ross, 70, an African-American Democrat from Overton, Texas. “I got a feeling that (Trump) is a little bit prejudiced. I’m not sure where he’ll stand, if he starts taking away rights. I’m trying to save my judgments and see what he does.”

Sixty-four percent of Latinos said race relations would get worse, 19 percent said they would improve and 13 percent think nothing will change. Their grim outlook is fueled in part by Trump’s recent executive orders on immigration and refugees and his campaign vow to build a giant wall along the U.S.-Mexican border, Miringoff said.

Forty-eight percent of white voters thought race relations will worsen under Trump, 29 percent said they would improve and 20 percent don’t expect relations to change under Trump.

“I think we’ve come a long way, but there’s always room for more understanding on both sides,” said Mary Bailes, 62, a white moderate conservative voter from Boca Raton, Florida. “There definitely has to be more conversations, empathy, definitely.”

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SOURCE: Miami Herald
William Douglas and Donovan Harrell