Trump worries most African-Americans: survey

[WASHINGTON] Nearly two-thirds of African-Americans are worried by President Donald Trump and even more believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, according to a new survey.

Eighty-four per cent of the black Americans polled said they feel the country is on the wrong track while just 15 per cent said it is heading in the right direction.

African-Americans make up 13 per cent of the US adult population but PerryUndem, the Washington-based policy research firm which conducted the poll, said public opinion surveys focusing solely on black Americans are relatively rare.

A total of 1,003 African-Americans aged 18 or older were polled between July 18 and August 7, 2017 by PerryUndem. The survey was commissioned by the group Our Own Voice: National Black Women's Reproductive Justice Agenda.

Those surveyed were asked how they are feeling now about Mr Trump, the Republican Party candidate who drew scant support from black American voters in the 2016 presidential election.

Sixty-three per cent said they were worried - 69 per cent of black women and 56 per cent of black men - 45 per cent said they were scared and 42 per cent said they were angry.

Only 12 per cent said they were optimistic and just seven per cent said they were hopeful.

Five per cent of those polled said they think Mr Trump's policies will positively affect black people while 64 per cent said the impact will be negative.

Eighteen per cent of black women surveyed and 12 per cent of black men said it is a good time to be black in America. Forty-five per cent of black women and 59 per cent of black men said it is a bad time.

Respondents were also asked who they trust to work on issues important to them.

Barack Obama, America's first black president, and former First Lady Michelle Obama topped the list with an identical trust factor of 92 per cent.

The Black Lives Matter movement which denounces police violence against black Americans earned a trust factor of 81 per cent.

The survey was conducted before two of the latest racially-tinged events involving Mr Trump.

On August 12, white supremacists and neo-Nazis staged a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, ostensibly to protest against the planned removal of a statue of Robert E Lee, a top general in the pro-slavery Civil War South, from a public park.

A woman was killed when an avowed white nationalist drove his car into a group of counter-protestors.

Mr Trump came under fire from Republicans and Democrats alike after initially insisting that anti-racism protesters were equally to blame for the violence.

During the past week, Mr Trump has repeatedly denounced American football players who have been kneeling during the national anthem to draw attention to racial injustice.

Mr Trump described athletes protesting during The Star-Spangled Banner as "sons of bitches" who should be fired.

Mr Trump has denied his condemnation of the players has anything to do with race but until recently the players who have taken part in the anthem protests have been overwhelmingly black.

AFP