Americans feel better about the state of race relations that they did a year ago — and see major change since the days of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In the latest Economist/YouGov Poll, conducted the weekend of the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, 66% of whites and a majority of African-Americans think quite a bit of Dr. King’s dream of racial equality has been realized.
How much of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream of racial equality has been realized today?
| All Respondents | Whites | Blacks | |
|---|---|---|---|
A great deal of it | 22% | 22% | 26% |
Quite a bit | 42% | 44% | 30% |
Only some | 23% | 21% | 32% |
Very little | 4% | 4% | 7% |
Not much at all | 3% | 3% | 2% |
Not sure | 5% | 6% | 3% |
In fact, Americans feel better about the state of race relations than they did a year ago. 66% describe race relations as good, as increase of 11 points since July 2010, after internet postings of edited speech excerpts by USDA official Shirley Sherrod suggested that she expressed anti-white feelings. The biggest change since then has been among African-Americans. A year ago, only 34% of blacks said race relations in the U.S. were good. Now, 53% do.
Do you think race relations in the UnitedStates are generally...
| July 24-27, 2010 | August 27-30, 2011 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Good | 55% | 34% | 66% | 53% |
Bad | 45% | 66% | 34% | 47% |
But the biggest change in perception of race relations has not been in the last year, but has come in the decades since Dr. King’s lived and worked. More than three out of four Americans say race relations have gotten better since the 1960’s. Whites and blacks agree on this. The public sees much less change since the Inauguration of Barack Obama, America’s first African-American President. Nearly six in ten Americans say race relations haven’t changed since then, and only one in ten say things have gotten better.
30% of the public, about the same percentage of whites and blacks, believe thingshave gotten worse since 2009.
Photo source: Press Association
