Nearly half of all Americans say race relations in the country are in bad shape and 3 in 10 acknowledge feelings of racial prejudice

Overall, 51% call the current state of race relations "excellent" or "good," about the same as said so five years ago. That is a relative thaw from more negative ratings in the 1990s, but the gap between whites and blacks on the issue is now the widest it has been in polls dating to early 1992. More than six in 10 African Americans now rate race relations as "not so good" or "poor," while 53% of whites hold more positive views. Opinions are also divided along racial lines, though less so, on whether blacks face discrimination. There is more similarity on feelings of personal racial prejudice: 30% of whites and 34% of blacks admit such sentiments.