Minnesota Poll: Race relations same or worse since Obama

The hope that America's first black president would help stitch together a more harmonious racial mosaic lies in tatters, as most people say race relations have stagnated or worsened since the 2008 election of Barack Obama, according to a Star Tribune Minnesota Poll.

Just 6 percent say race relations are better since Obama's election, while 29 percent say they are worse, and 64 percent say they are the same.

The Obama results match the findings of national polls, such as a recent Politico survey of battleground states and congressional districts, with 46 percent saying race relations have worsened, while 48 percent say they have remained the same, leaving only 6 percent saying the racial climate has improved.

While most Democrats say race relations have not changed since Obama took the helm, Republicans are especially pessimistic: 54 percent say relations have declined, while just 2 percent say they have improved, according to the Minnesota Poll.

The Minnesota Poll, conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research Inc., interviewed 800 likely voters from Sept. 8-10 by land-line phones and cellphones, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Terry Bletsch, who lives in Minneapolis and leans Republican, gave a two-part answer, saying he believes race relations have improved among neighbors, family and friends, citing, for instance, a black pastor at his mostly white church.

In the political sphere, however, the racial dialogue has soured, Bletsch said.

"I just think that kind of thing doesn't help race relations. It just makes it more 'them and us,' " Bletsch said.

The events in Ferguson that dominated headlines for days throughout the country may have touched Minnesotans more lightly, perhaps because the black population here has yet to break 6 percent. Asked whether the shooting of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson was justified, 68 percent said they were not sure.

Among whites, 14 percent said the shooting was justified, while 59 percent of blacks said it was unjustified. No blacks in the survey said the killing was justified.

In this era of polarization, each side blames the other for failing to promote racial healing.

Given what is known about political psychology, the results are not surprising, said Alan Lambert, a social psychologist at Washington University in St. Louis.

Lambert said Republicans' negative feeling toward Obama would extend to most questions.

Psychologists call it a "reverse halo effect": Ask Republicans about the traffic or the fortunes of the Vikings since Obama was elected, and they'll likely say they have worsened.

Democrats do the same, only in reverse, Lambert said.

For instance, Democrats are more likely to give Obama the benefit of the doubt on his military campaigns in the Middle East, whereas those same voters would have condemned former President George W. Bush for pursuing the same policy.

Each side also harbors specific grievances.

"[Obama is] so hated by people who can't believe we have a black man as president," said Lily Olson, a Maple Grove Democrat. "He cannot do a thing right in their eyes. And it has nothing to do with policy. It has to do with him being black," she said.

Alfred Babington-Johnson, CEO of the Stairstep Foundation and an ordained minister at Grace Temple Deliverance in Minneapolis, said the breakthrough of a first black president unleashed "a level of malevolence that wasn't there."

He referred to a 2009 incident when Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., yelled "You lie!" during an Obama health care speech to Congress.

"Why would it be OK for a sitting congressman to interrupt the president before a joint session of Congress and call the president a liar? That was unprecedented," Babington-Johnson said.

Despite the downcast view of recent race trends, Minnesotans are fairly sanguine about race relations overall. Asked if they are "generally good, or generally bad," 49 percent said good, and 37 percent said bad. Hennepin, Ramsey and outstate respondents were the most optimistic, while suburban voters were divided equally on the question.

The responses broke sharply along racial lines. Whites were nearly evenly divided about whether the shooting was justified, but most said they were not sure.

Black respondents were more certain: Fifty-nine percent of the Minnesota Poll's small sample of 44 black likely voters said the shooting was unjustified, while the rest replied they are not sure.

The Twin Cities area has seen its own recent allegations of unjust policing: St. Paul resident Chris Lollie says he was wrongly arrested and subdued with a Taser while legally sitting in a public lounge area of a skyway.

"We tend to go with our experience: African-American people have experienced a different relationship with police" than whites have, said Babington-Johnson, who was not a poll respondent but is a prominent black community leader. (None of the black respondents in the Minnesota Poll volunteered to be interviewed by a reporter.)

The mostly white police force in Ferguson responded to protests there armed with surplus military equipment, including assault rifles and armored vehicles.

Again, the response often could be predicted by the person's political party. More than half of Democrats said police should not have the equipment, while more than half of Republicans say it is needed.

Other voters were of two minds. James McNulty, a St. Anthony resident and World War II Navy veteran, said police should have whatever weapons they need.

He added, "They should just be a little more careful about who the hell they're making a police officer."