Now, Benson buys into the idea that there's been a big shift in public opinion, indicating that many believe police use excessive force against African Americans (57% of Americans, 49% of whites). My own view is that those polling results reflect a number of factors. One is the reluctance of many Americans to avoid expressing opinions on controversial matters--or to state what they believe is the safe view. Another factor is the effect of the disinformation fed to the public. Most people have seen pictures of Floyd with a white cop's knee against his neck and believe that Chauvin killed, or even murdered, Floyd--despite the fact that the medical examiner's report shows that to be a false view. Far fewer, in my belief, have any particular knowledge of the actual details of what went down--drug use, the call to the paramedics, the autopsy report, etc. There's plenty of time before the election for the public to become more informed and to feed that into what happened.
UPDATE: Not to put too fine a point on it, I believe that when people realize that they've been had once again, that the George Floyd event is most likely something in the nature of the Trayvon Martin event, that realization will add to the backlash against the Left's violence and general craziness. The voting public will not see the Dems as the party that is likely to restore order, but--coupled with the Russia Hoax--the party of hoaxes designed to sow division.
Now here's the meat of what was found. As you'll see, despite sympathy for Floyd--likely based on disinformation--Americans are very unhappy with what followed:
... police are still viewed favorably by most Americans -- and a new Washington Post poll shows that one major critique of the police is that they were too timid in dealing with violence, rioting and looting:
An overall plurality of 47% believe police didn’t use enough force on violent actors, with only 16% believing they used too much and 34% “about right.” Few demographics thought police used too much force on rioters and looters, but almost every demo thought they didn’t use enough — except Democrats, who split 37% “about right,” 36% not enough force, and 24% too much force.
And this was from a few days ago:
Josh Kraushaar@HotlineJosh
NPR-Marist poll:
56% of registered voters believe police behaving appropriately or not aggressively enough
Only 34% believe police too aggressive.
http://maristpoll.marist.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/NPR_PBS-NewsHour_Marist-Poll_USA-NOS-and-Tables_2006041039.pdf …
12:53 PM - Jun 5, 2020
In the WaPo numbers, just 16 percent of Americans think the cops were too rough on the rioters which almost perfectly parallels the percentage of Americans also support defunding or slashing budgets from the police. It's a fringe. The overwhelming majority of the country wants order in the streets and laws enforced, even if some tactics and accountability metrics need to be reconsidered.
I'm surprised that the numbers are so pro-cop.
ReplyDeleteI take no calls from pollsters (or other strangers), but if I did, I'd tell no one from an *NPR* poll anything, other than "none of your damn business. Your crowd deserves only knuckle-sandwiches".
I think the poll underestimates the support for the police.
ReplyDeleteEveryone I know was frustrated that the police were not using any force to stop the looting, damage and violence. Where were the rubber bullets and tear gas?
You comment above "I believe that when people realize that they've been had once again..." I am intrigued by this. Is there any good article on this yet, or are you simply sensing this from small items and past experience? (Any thank you very much for this site; I look forward to checking it daily.)
ReplyDeleteIn a sense (!) I was just 'sensing' that, but I was thinking back to the claims that were made by Progs for the Trayvon and Ferguson affairs--how they were going to change the country forever. It didn't happen--except that it led to far more deaths of blacks at the hands of blacks, which hasn't gone unnoticed by the rest of the country. And then Trump was elected to counter PC--that was a major part of his appeal.
DeleteThe hiccup in the concept that "I believe that when people realize that they've been had once again..." is that as much as people don't like "being had," they like even less admitting it or being reminded of it.
ReplyDeleteThe likely result is a repetition--history repeats--because the lesson learned is an emotional torment or embarrassment, the feeling of "being had"--not the circumstances or events that led to "being had." And since the circumstances are ever-changing, most people don't detect a consistent pattern that connects events, in order for the lesson learned to be about events, rather than their feelings that resulted.
Generally, people are most influenced by recent events, especially recents events "being had." Older experiences that stir uncomfortable (bad!) feelings are usually parked away in recesses of the mind. ("Don't remind me that I was had.")
Unless directly involved in some way, harkening back to Ferguson (2014) or Occupy Wall St (2011) is ancient history for memory recall, especially when there are no subsequent reasons to revisit the events. (The pattern recognition issue. Ferguson and OWS, as events, seem unrelated.)
It's a kind of conformation bias for mentally healthy people. We prefer our desires reinforced and our anxieties mitigated. That's why healthy people find neurotics so troublesome to deal with as their anxieties overwhelm them.