News: Race In America

Poll: Hopes Buoyed On Race Relations

More than six in 10 Americans predict in a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll that U.S. President Barack Obama's presidency will improve race relations in the United States in the years ahead (hat tip: Black & Right). A solid majority of blacks and whites say race relations will get better as a result of his presidency; just 13% say they will get worse. By 41%-22%, those surveyed say race relations have improved rather than worsened since Election Day. Blacks are much more likely than whites to say that racism against blacks persists — 72% of blacks say it is widespread, compared with 49% of whites — but they are also more optimistic that President Obama's election will improve that. A 53% majority of blacks say race relations already have gotten better as a result.

There has been some recalibration of the euphoric expectations expressed in a USA TODAY survey taken on November 5, 2008. Then, 28% predicted race relations would get "a lot" better, compared with 15% now. Forty-two percent said they would be "a little" better, compared with 46% now. A year ago, a record 67% said race relations one day would no longer be an issue in the United States. Now that has dropped to 56%, a tick higher than in Gallup polls taken before President Obama seemed poised to win the Democratic nomination.

Over the past year, the percentage who say blacks have as good a chance as whites in their community to get a job for which they are qualified has risen by 8 percentage points. That's the biggest one-year jump since Gallup began regularly asking the question 20 years ago. In a separate daily survey by Gallup, the assessments by African Americans of their standards of living and their prospects for the future spiked with President Obama's election and have remained high even as unemployment has worsened.

Low Black Voter Turnout Threatens Dems In Va., N.J. Races

Voter doldrums - especially among blacks far less energized than they were for U.S. President Barack Obama's historic presidential bid last year - pose problems for Democrats struggling in the governors' races in Virginia and New Jersey (hat tip: BlackElectorate.com). Pollsters and election analysts expect a steep drop-off of black voters - who historically back Democrats - in the nation's two gubernatorial contests and in congressional races on November 3, and they predict it is likely to cast a shadow in 2010 over at least 10 House Democrats with large black constituencies. About 15% of New Jersey voters are black. Twelve percent of New Jersey's last year voters were black, but polls predict that blacks will be as low as 8% of the the state's electorate for the upcoming election. The governor's race is so tight - neck-and-neck two weeks before Election Day - that a blip in black turnout could decide the contest between incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine and Republican challenger Chris Christie.

Virginia backed President Obama in his historic win a year ago, but voted Republican in the previous nine consecutive presidential elections and now appears poised to send a Republican to the governor's mansion. President Obama will be campaigning in Virginia next week for Democrat Creigh Deeds, a state senator who trails Robert McDonnell by about 8% in recent polls. Black voters cast 20% of Virginia's ballots in last year's presidential election. Pollsters say that number will drop to about 16% on November 3.