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.
Data: Reuters/Ipsos/UVA Center for Politics Race Poll. Note: 1,450 U.S. adults surveyed, with a credibility interval of ±2.9 percentage points. "Don't know" responses not show; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios
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.
"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."
