Americans' views on race relations hit record low since 1990s: poll

Up to 61 percent of Americans now regard race relations in the United States as bad in the aftermath of the death of a young black man who was fatally injured during police custody in Baltimore, the highest percentage since 1990s, according to a latest poll.

The latest New York Times/CBS News poll also shows a racial division in view of whether the police are more inclined to use deadly force against the black, with 79 percent of blacks say so compared with 37 percent of whites.

Overall, 44 percent of Americans say that police are more apt to resort to deadly force against blacks, up from 37 percent in last August after a deadly shooting of an unarmed black man in Ferguson, Missouri.

Meanwhile, the poll finds that blacks remain far more likely than whites to feel anxious about police presence in their communities, with 42 percent expressing such anxiety while eight in ten whites feel mostly safe with police presence in their communities.

Conducted after the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in Baltimore and the rioting that followed, the poll depicts a more pessimistic view among Americans as regards to racial issues than the sentiment in the wake of turmoil in Ferguson last summer.

Down 18 percent from earlier this year, only a third of Americans now say race relations are generally good, worst public perceptions since 1992, when riots erupted in Los Angeles in the wake of the acquittal of police officers who brutally beat the black taxi driver Rodney King following a high-speed car chase.

The death of Gray, caused by a deadly spinal cord injury inflicted during transport in a police van earlier April, thrust the city of Baltimore into the vortex of a heated national debate over police brutality in minority neighborhoods. All the six police officers involved in the case have already be charged by a state prosecutor and the trial is slated for late May.

The poll finds that while six Americans in ten have a lot or some confidence that the investigation into Gray's death will be conducted fairly, gaps remain by race: 64 percent of whites have at least some confidence in a fair investigation, while 52 percent of blacks have little or no confidence. Endite