Exclusive: In poll, only 1 in 5 say police treat people equally even as worries about crime surge
George Floyd was murdered on a Minneapolis street by a then-police officer who knelt on his neck, video of that and other instances of police misconduct toward Black Americans have sparked protests and a national reckoning on race.
Now just 1 in 5 Americans, 22%, said the police treat all Americans equally. Even fewer, 17%, said the criminal justice courts and lawyers treat everyone equally.
USA TODAY/Pew Research Center Poll in 2014, when 32% of Americans said police departments did an excellent or good job in treating racial and ethnic groups equally.
“Strong majorities support increased police funding to combat crime, making it clear that America is still a law and order country,” said Cliff Young, president of Ipsos Public Affairs. “However, this Ipsos/USA TODAY poll shows most Americans recognize racial inequalities in law enforcement, suggesting many Americans want justice in addition to safety.”
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Crime has once again begun to roil American politics as murder rates have spiked – up 24% over last year – and as the threat of COVID-19 has ebbed. In the poll, crime topped a list of 16 issues of potential concern. The coronavirus pandemic dropped to No. 7, tied with racial injustice and discrimination. (They trailed political extremism, climate change, health care, government budget and debt, and immigration.)
Last month, President Joe Biden announced a crime prevention strategy targeting rogue gun dealers and the illegal sale of firearms. But Republicans have blamed the rise in crime on progressive activists’ calls to cut funding for law enforcement, spotlighting the slogan “defund the police.”
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Whom do you trust to handle crime?
Crime and public safety is the issue on which the Republican Party now holds its strongest advantage. By 32% to 24%, those polled said the GOP was better at handling crime. Democrats were preferred in handling health care, education and gun violence. The parties were roughly tied on handling employment and job creation.
That said, Americans trusted Biden more than former President Donald Trump, 42% to 37%, to address crime.
Asked to chose between two statements, 45% agreed with this: “We should shift some funding to social services, get guns off the street, and demilitarize policing.” That was the view of Democrats by more than 6 to 1.
In contrast, 37% agreed with the alternative: “We should spend more on police and let police officers do their job as they see fit.” That was the view of Republicans by more than 6 to 1.
What specific strategies did most Americans support?
The message was mixed, presumably a reflection of conflicting impulses and priorities. An overwhelming 9 of 10 endorsed training police officers to de-escalate difficult situations and avoid violence. But nearly 6 in 10 also backed military or SWAT-style training for all police officers.
Some approaches that gained favor during previous tough-on-crime campaigns don’t have majority support now. Mandatory minimum prison sentences for drug convictions were backed by 48%. Just 36% endorsed “stop and frisk” policing, the policy that gives police broad latitude to stop people with little cause and search them for weapons or drugs.
“We need to rethink the way we train police completely, from the very beginning,” said Craig Blek, 58, an economics professor at Imperial Valley College in California, who is a registered Republican. “Everybody thinks that you can just overhaul the police system tomorrow, and you can’t. It’s going to take 20 years of recruiting and training to fix the problem. But we need to start it.”