A new poll has found that most New Yorkers think race relations aren't so great.

The Siena College poll found that 66 percent of respondents felt race relations were "fair" or "poor," up significantly from last year, when 51 percent answered that way.

This year, just 4 percent of those polled thought race relations were "excellent," and 27 percent said race relations were "good." Another 3 percent were undecided.

The polls' authors said that recent events in Ferguson, Missouri and on Staten Island affected the outcome of the poll.

At a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration on Long Island today, many agreed that Dr. King's message of equality and tolerance is more important now than ever.

"The only way to reverse the trend and the pattern... in the poll is to have lines of communication, diverse lines of communication, so that people from every walk of life, every background, every ethnicity have an opportunity to express themselves," said Bishop Andy Lewter, of Hollywood Full Gospel Cathedral.