As police gear up for tomorrow's first anniversary of the deadly Charlottesville melee that erupted from a Confederate monument protest, attention is going to potential clashes between racists and opponents, not signs of grace or healing.
Alas, the mood matches the data: A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted with the University of Virginias' Center for Politics finds that most believe race relations have deteriorated under President Trump.
Key kindings, from Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball:
- "Americans offered more mixed opinions on race relations looking back on President Barack Obama’s presidency, with roughly equal numbers saying race relations got better or got worse during his presidency."
- As was the case a similar poll last September, "few showed support for white nationalists and neo-Nazis."
- "On the flip side, about a third of respondents did not express clear support for seemingly settled social issues, like support for interracial marriage."
The bottom line: "Americans generally showed a good deal of consistency on these questions between September 2017 and now."
- "[A] majority of Americans both last year and now opposed the removal of Confederate monuments from public spaces."