NEW YORK Three out of five black Americans feel their conditions are worsening,and a like number think the American dream has become impossible to achieve,a new poll says.
These pessimistic beliefs cut across social classes, according to the pollconducted by Yankelovich Partners Inc. for The New Yorker.
Sixty-six percent of those who consider themselves members of the lowerclass think that their own conditions are getting worse, as do 57 percentof the working class, 58 percent of the middle class and 50 percent of theupper-middle and above, according to the survey.
The survey was reported in the magazine's April 29-May 6 issue, a specialissue devoted to black America. The poll was conducted among 1,200 African-Americanadults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
Altogether, 58 percent say their conditions are getting worse, 59 percentagree that the American dream has become impossible for most to achieveand half believe that race relations will never be better than they are.
A large majority - 78 percent - believe that government programs do notgo far enough to relieve the problems of blacks. However, 48 percent sayblacks' failure to take advantage of opportunities available to them isa greater problem than white discrimination.
Coretta Scott King scored the highest favorable rating among political personalities,with 83 percent of those surveyed giving Martin Luther King Jr.'s widowa "generally favorable" rating.
Jesse Jackson was next, with 82 percent, followed by O.J. Simpson lawyerJohnnie Cochran, with 75 percent, and Colin Powell, 70 percent. Furtherdown the list: Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan with a 52 percentfavorable rating, and former NAACP leader Benjamin Chavis with 36 percent.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas scored a 35 percent favorablerating.
Despite Powell's favorable rating, the poll found that only 13 percent ofblacks would support a Bob Dole-Powell Republican ticket.
Basketball greats Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson and talk show host OprahWinfrey were the most widely admired cultural personalities.
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