July 16, 2008 Poll: Country ready for black president Play video

(NECN: Alison King) - A New York Times/CBS News poll shows a majority of Americans agree that the country is ready for a black president. But, at the same time, the poll also finds racial divisions surrounding Barack Obama's candidacy.

The perceptions of Illinois Sen. Obama and his Republican challenger, Arizona Sen. John McCain, break along racial lines. The survey found that more than 80 percent of blacks said they had a favorable opinion of Obama, whose historic effort generated high levels of enthusiasm among blacks. But among whites, only about 30 percent said they viewed him favorably, the Times/CBS poll found.

Whites had a more positive view of the state of race relations than blacks, the survey found.

More than half of whites, 55 percent, said relations are good, a finding that was virtually unchanged from a survey conducted in 2000. But only 29 percent of blacks said the same thing, also about the same as eight years ago.

About a third of whites and almost twice as many blacks said relations are bad, about the same numbers for both groups who felt that way in 2000.

The latest results come as both candidates head into the final months of a groundbreaking campaign in which the race issue has been ever present.

*Material from the Associated Press used in this report*