Under Obama, three in five Americans see improvement in race relations

New York, Apr.28 (ANI): The latest New York Times/ CBS News poll claims that the Barack Obama presidency is seeking to alter the public perception of race relations in the United States.

According to the poll, three out of five Americans now say race relations are generally good, and the percentage of blacks who say so has doubled since last July.

The poll found Black Americans remain among the president's staunchest supporters -- 70 percent of black respondents now say the country is headed in the right direction, compared with 34 percent of whites.

The poll found broad support for Obama's approach on a variety of issues, including one of the most contentious: whether Congress should investigate the harsh interrogation tactics authorized by George W. Bush.

Sixty-two percent of Americans share Obama's view that hearings are unnecessary.

Americans seem to have high hopes for the president -- 72 percent said they were optimistic about the next four years and by and large, Americans expect him to make significant progress in health care, energy and immigration policy, issues central to his ambitious domestic agenda.

But this optimism is tempered by a feeling of resignation about two of the most difficult challenges he faces: reviving the economy and ending United States military involvement in Iraq.

Most Americans say Obama has begun to make progress on both fronts, but many do not expect either the recession or the war to be over by the end of his term.

Obama's 68 percent job approval rating is higher than that of any recent president at the 100-day mark.

But while Americans clearly have faith in Obama, the poll revealed something of a disconnect between what the public thinks the president has already accomplished and what it expects him to achieve.

Obama will mark his 100th day in office on Wednesday with a trip to St. Louis and a prime time news conference, where aides say he will make the case that he has made "a down payment" on fixing the nation's biggest problems.

The nationwide telephone survey was conducted Wednesday through Sunday with 973 adults. For purposes of analysis, blacks were over sampled in this poll, for a total of 212, and then weighted back to their proper proportion in the poll, based on the census. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points for all people, and plus or minus seven points for blacks. (ANI)