Obama's approval rating on his handling of race relations has declined by 8 percentage points in the wake of police killings of black men in Ferguson, Missouri, and Staten Island, New York, according to a new Pew/USA Today poll

The poll finds that 50% of adults disapprove of Obama's handling of race relations, while only 40% approve. By contrast, in late August 2014, shortly after the shooting death of Michael Brown, a black teenager, in Ferguson, 48% approved of Obama's handling of race, while 40% disapproved. The deaths of Eric Garner in Staten Island and Brown at the hands of white police officers sparked nationwide protests, after grand juries in both cases declined to issue indictments. Obama's approval on race relations has declined the most among black people, from 73% to 57% since August 2014. Among white people, it has declined from 42% to 33%.