Majority of adults say race relations in US are ‘generally bad’ and Trump has made them worse

The majority of adult Americans surveyed for a Pew Research Center survey released Tuesday believe race relations in the U.S. are “generally bad” and that President Trump has worsened them.

Almost 6 in 10 Americans, 58 percent, said race relations in the U.S. are “generally bad,” and of those, few said they were improving. 

A slightly smaller group, 56 percent, said that Trump’s presidency has made the problem worse. An additional two-thirds of respondents said it’s become more common for people to express racist views since Trump’s election.

{mosads}On the issue of Trump worsening race relations, 49 percent of white respondents said he did, compared to 71 percent of black respondents. 

Black adults were generally more negative on the state of racial progress throughout the survey. Fifty percent that it is unlikely that the country will eventually achieve racial equality. Only 9 percent of white respondents held that view.

Pew surveyed 6,637 adults online between Jan. 22 and Feb. 5. The sample has a margin of error of 1.7 percentage points. Breaking down the sample by race, 2,997 white people were surveyed compared to 1,518 black people.

Trump has received criticism for several remarks that have been called racist by lawmakers and commentators.

Trump reportedly said that immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African nations came from “shithole countries” during a 2018 Oval Office meeting.

He also famously referred to Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers while announcing his presidential bid in 2015.