Four separate polls taken this month show most Democratic voters support the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests and calls for defunding local police while others are not as supportive.
According to a YouGov poll taken for Yahoo News, 57 percent of American adults said they have a favorable view of BLM. Democrats offer the most support with 84 percent of them having a favorable view of the BLM movement, a 30-point jump since 2016. Other voters are not as high on BLM though 55 percent of independents view the movement favorably while 27 percent of Republicans do.
A poll from Rasmussen Reports shows 62 percent of likely voters across the nation have a favorable view with BLM. Almost half of Democrats–49 percent–view BLM as very favorable while 17 percent of Republicans and 22 percent of independents see BLM as very favorable. While 46 percent of Democrats have a more favorable view of BLM after recent protests, 44 percent of Republicans see BLM as less favorable after the protests. Almost half of independents–48 percent–view BLM as more favorable after the protests. Almost half of black voters–49 percent–view BLM as very favorable.
The Black Lives Matter protesters have called for defunding the police.While most polls show voters oppose those efforts, the majority of Democratic voters support cutting police funding. A HarrisX poll taken for The Hill shows 52 percent of Democratic voters approve of cutting police funding. Solid majorities of other voters oppose defunding the police with 78 percent of Republicans and 70 percent of independents against cutting police funds. Still, younger voters and black voters back cutting funds for the police with 54 percent of voters under 35 and 60 percent of black voters supporting less funds for law enforcement.
An Ipsos poll taken for ABC found that 64 percent of Americans are opposed to the movement to defund the police but a majority of Democrats–55 percent–support it.
The Ipsos poll finds a racial divide as 57 percent of black voters support the movement to defund the police while three out of four white voters and 57 percent of Hispanics oppose it.
Reach Ed Dean at ed.dean@floridadaily.com.
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