Poll: 59 percent see race relations as good

Fifty-nine percent of people in the United States think race relations in the country are generally good, according to a new poll. 

According to a CBS News poll released Wednesday, another one in three people describes relations in the country as generally bad 50 years after the Civil Rights Act was passed and signed by former President Lyndon Johnson. 

{mosads}The poll shows 55 percent of African Americans see race relations as good, while 60 percent of white people say the same. 

A smaller majority, 55 percent, believes there is hope of ending racial discrimination in the United States. Another 46 percent believe it will continue. 

Sixty-one percent of African Americans think racial discrimination will always exist in the country, while 44 percent of white people feel the same. 

Positive feelings about race relations peaked in 2009 shortly after President Obama was sworn into office as the first black president. Obama is scheduled to give the keynote speech Thursday at a civil rights summit held at the LBJ Library in Texas.

Former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush are slated to speak Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. Former President Jimmy Carter during his appearance Tuesday night said the country has become too at ease with black unemployment and other racial disparity. 

“We’re pretty much dormant now,” Carter said. “We accept self-congratulations about the wonderful 50th anniversary, which is wonderful, but we feel like Lyndon Johnson did it and we don’t have to do anything anymore.”

The poll surveyed 1,017 people from March 26-30 and has a 3-percentage-point margin of error.