--- --- # Americans Think Race Relations Are at Their Worst Point in Years, Poll Finds  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Jul 14, 2016 12:53 AM UTC  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Jul 14, 2016 12:53 AM UTC Americans believe that [racial discontent is at the highest point](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/14/us/most-americans-hold-grim-view-of-race-relations-poll-finds.html) since the Obama presidency began, with 69 percent of respondents in a new poll saying race relations in the country right now are poor. The New York _Times_ and CBS conducted the poll from Friday through Tuesday, the period directly after the killings of [Alton Sterling](http://time.com/4395459/alton-sterling-baton-rouge-police-shooting/), [Philando Castile](http://time.com/4396256/minnesota-shooting-philando-castile-what-know/) and [five police officers](http://time.com/4397785/dallas-shooting-police-protest-snipers/) in Dallas. The poll also found that 6 out of 10 respondents thought race relations in America are getting worse — a marked increase from 38 percent who said the same [a year ago](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/24/us/poll-shows-most-americans-think-race-relations-are-bad.html), the _Times_ reports. The poll surveyed 1,600 people throughout the United States. The racial strife found in the poll matches the levels recorded during the [riots in Los Angeles](http://time.com/4245175/rodney-king-la-riots-anniversary/) in 1992 over [the Rodney King beating case](http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1614117%5F1614084%5F1614831,00.html). Additionally, more than half of black respondents said they weren’t even surprised by the Dallas attack last week, while just under half of white respondents said the same. Race Relations at Their Worst Point in Years, Americans Say ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4405568/race-relations-poll-alton-sterling-philando-castile-dallas/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4405568/race-relations-poll-alton-sterling-philando-castile-dallas/"},"headline":"Americans Think Race Relations Are at Their Worst Point in Years, Poll Finds","datePublished":"2016-07-14T00:53:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:14:29.939Z","description":"Levels of racial discontent in America are high, and growing higher, a new poll finds","url":"https://time.com/4405568/race-relations-poll-alton-sterling-philando-castile-dallas/","keywords":["Race","Barack Obama","politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/race/","name":"Race"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4405568/race-relations-poll-alton-sterling-philando-castile-dallas/","name":"Americans Think Race Relations Are at Their Worst Point in Years, Poll Finds"}}]}] ```