Public's approval of Obama's handling of race relations plummets.

The public doesn't think President is doing a very good job of handling race relations.  In a fact it's dropped among every group based on party affiliation and racial group.  Obviously, the Zimmerman trial is on people's mind and it's heightened concerns over race relations.

The public's view of President Obama's handling of race relations has deteriorated significantly, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University.  Nearly half the country (46 percent) now disapproves of the president's handling of race relations, double the number who felt the same way 30 months ago.

Meanwhile, the number of people who approve of Obama's handling of race relations has dropped from 57 percent in January 2011, the last time Quinnipiac University asked this question in a national poll, to 47 percent today.

Obama suffered a net decline across all demographic groups, but particularly among self-identified Republicans, whose disapproval jumped to 78 percent from 43 percent in the January 2011 survey.
Obama also suffered greatly with Independents, who went from approving of the president's handling of race relations by a 32-point margin 30 months ago (56/24) to disapproving of him now by a 13-point margin (40/53).

And, highlighting the polarized state of the country's politics, only one demographic group -- self-identified Democrats -- increased its support for Obama's handling of race relations over the past 30 months: currently 80 percent of Democrats approve of Obama's handling of race matters, while 78 percent approved in January 2011.

The Quinnipiac University survey was conducted from July 28-31 among 1,468 registered voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.