Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump claims that the standards of living of the Hispanic and African American communities in the United States plummeted during President Barack Obama’s years in office.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The standards of living of the Hispanic and African American communities in the United States plummeted during President Barack Obama’s years in office, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told a rally.

Obama became as US President in 2009, and was reelected in 2012 for the second four-year term.

"Black participation in the [US] labor force has slumped," Trump told the rally in Austin, Texas. "The number of [African-Americans] on food stamps under Obama [is] up 58.2 percent… The percentage of black Americans, who own homes plunged 41.7 percent under Obama."

Trump said that Obama’s policies had been equally disastrous for the approximately 40 million strong Hispanic American community.

"Incomes for Latino households have declined by more than $1,000 under President Obama," he said.

Opinion polls over the past week have shown Trump narrowing the gap between him and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. He is now seeking to improve his extremely low levels of support in the African-American and Hispanic American communities which together number around 80 million people or around 27 percent of the total US population.