June 10, 2020

Public Support for Cutting Police Funding Is Low

Krista Kennell/ZUMA

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Over at NRO, Ramesh Ponnuru points to a YouGov poll showing weak public support for cutting police funding:

The results for “cut funding for police departments” was that 16 percent favored it and 65 percent opposed it. The highest support for the idea, 33 percent, was found among black respondents, but a narrow plurality of 36 percent of them still opposed it.

Fine, but this poll was taken only a few days after George Floyd was killed. Have things changed since then? Here’s a YouGov poll taken a couple of days ago:

So approval for cutting police funding has increased from 16 percent to 22 percent. That’s not huge movement, but it’s not bad for a single week. Nevertheless, it’s still nowhere within light years of a majority. “Defund the Police” has a long way to go to get the public on its side.

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DEMOCRACY DOES NOT EXIST...

without free and fair elections, a vigorous free press, and engaged citizens to reclaim power from those who abuse it.

In this election year unlike any other—against a backdrop of a pandemic, an economic crisis, racial reckoning, and so much daily bluster—Mother Jones' journalism is driven by one simple question: Will America move closer to, or further from, justice and equity in the years to come?

If you're able to, please join us in this mission with a donation today. Our reporting right now is focused on voting rights and election security, corruption, disinformation, racial and gender equity, and the climate crisis. We can’t do it without the support of readers like you, and we need to give it everything we've got between now and November. Thank you.

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