Poll: Overwhelming Majority of Black Americans Support Their Local Police
A CBS News/YouGov poll released on Sunday found that 70 percent of black Americans believe their local police are doing a somewhat or very good job. The remaining 30 percent said the police were doing a somewhat or very bad job.
The results for whites were 82 and 18 percent, respectively. Among Hispanics, 77 percent rated their local police favorably compared to 22 percent, unfavorably. Overall support for local police came in at 79 and 21 percent. That’s pretty solid approval for a group that has been vilified so intensely over the past year.
The poll broke down the group by gender, race, political ideology, whether an individual supported President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump, political party, race/ethnicity and for whites, by level of education.
The results for males and females were identical. Seventy-nine percent of each group said they support their local police while 21 percent did not.
Among liberals, the figures were 71 to 29 percent; Moderates, 80 to 20; and Conservatives, 89 to 11. So, we see a distinct trend here. Conservatives view their local police more positively than their liberal friends.
It also appears that as people get older, their appreciation for law enforcement increases. Among those under 30, the numbers were 69 to 31 percent. For those aged 65 and older, the results, 94 to 6 percent, were dramatically higher.
Seventy-six percent of Biden supporters approved of their local police while 23 percent did not. Among Trump supporters, those figures were 89 and 11 percent.
Among Democrats, 72 percent held a favorable opinion of local police compared to 28 percent who did not. For Independents, the results were 81 and 19 percent, and for Republicans, 88 to 11 percent.
White people without a college degree supported police by a margin of 83 to 17 percent. Views of whites with a four-year degree were slightly less favorable.
Another survey question asked Americans whether they agreed with the ideas of Black Lives Matter. Forty-eight percent said yes, 38 percent, no, and 13 percent were not sure.
The poll breaks this number down by demographics as well. Among white Americans, 41 percent agree with the group’s ideas, 46 percent disagree while 13 percent didn’t know. Among black Americans, a whopping 75 percent agree with the group’s ideas, 13 percent disagree and 12 percent were undecided.
Overall, 47 percent of males said they agreed with the ideas of BLM, 42 percent did not and 10 percent were not sure. For females, the figures were 50 percent, 34 percent and 16 percent, respectively.
The surveys show an inverse relationship between age and support for BLM. Sixty-two percent of respondents under 30 said they agree with BLM, 29 percent did not and 9 percent weren’t sure. An individual’s positive perception of BLM declines steadily as the age groups increased. For those aged 65 and older, only 39 percent agreed with the group’s ideals, 47 percent disagreed and 14 percent did not know.
As one might expect, among those who voted for Biden, 82 percent agreed with BLM, 12 percent did not and six percent were undecided. The opposite was true for Trump supporters. Twelve percent said they agreed, a whopping 81 percent disagreed (70 percent disagreed strongly), and seven percent were unsure.
Something to note: This CBS/YouGov poll surveyed a “nationally representative sample” of 2,527 U.S. residents between April 21-24, 2021, and has a margin of error of +/- 2.3 points.
In this age of cancellation, I question the honesty of the respondents in answering the BLM question. In the same way that some survey participants were reluctant to tell a pollster they planned to vote for Trump, I would imagine some people were afraid to say they disagreed with BLM’s ideology. I can’t say I blame them.
Last week a Utah reporter tracked down and harassed a paramedic who had donated $10 to Kyle Rittenhouse’s legal defense fund.
Either way, the most interesting takeaway from this data is that, despite the incessant attacks from the far-left and the cries to “defund the police,” Americans overall have a far higher opinion of their local police than they do of BLM. And 70 percent of black Americans have a favorable opinion of their local police as well.
Based on the results of this poll, one might even say that the majority of Americans aren’t buying the left’s narrative, which may come as a surprise to them.
Needless to say, this is just one poll.
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