Be that as it may, the president has an uphill battle given the perceptions of Blacks by Whites in this country.

On the heels of the most historic presidential election in more than a century, an Associated Press poll released this week finds that racial attitudes have not improved in the four years since the United States elected its first Black president.

Even worse, the report shows that a slight majority of Americans now express prejudice towards Blacks whether they recognize those feelings or not.

Those views could cost President Barack Obama votes as he tries for re-election.

The slightly good news is that the effects are tempered by some people’s more favorable view of Blacks.

Racial prejudice has increased slightly since 2008; the year Obama was elected.

In all, 51 percent of Americans now express explicit anti-Black attitudes, compared to 48 percent in a similar 2008 survey. When measured by an implicit racial attitudes test, the number of Americans with anti-Black sentiments jumped to 56 percent, up from 49 percent during the last presidential election. In both tests, the share of Americans expressing pro-Black attitudes fell.

To be sure in this highly charged political campaign, the president’s cause was not helped when a YouTube video went viral with a Black woman screaming at an anti-Mitt Romney rally that Black people need to vote for Obama because he “gives out free phones.”

This is the farthest thing from the truth.

The Universal Telephone Act was implemented under President Bill Clinton and the money used to provide cell phones to the underprivileged comes from cell phone users who can afford the service.

Be that as it may, the president has an uphill battle given the perceptions of Blacks by Whites in this country.