The events in Baltimore have focused attention again on police actions. The editors of AEI’s Political Report recently looked at public opinion on the police nationally and in New York City and Los Angeles, where police behavior has raised questions in the past. Few polls on the issue have been updated since the issue came out in February.
Our review of the data suggests that Americans express a relatively high level of confidence in the police, and this has changed little over time. That said, the percent of Americans who agree with the statement that blacks are discriminated against in the way they are treated by police has more than doubled from 25% when Harris first asked the question in 1969 to 53% in Harris’ online December survey. Blacks’ and whites’ opinions on questions of police behavior have moved closer to each other, but substantial gaps still exist.
Looking at this issue over time, public opinion of police departments appears to recover following incidents that question police behavior. As these two graphs show, this trend is most evident in the attitudes of residents of Los Angeles and New York City, where multiple high-profile incidents have occurred. But before this recovery begins in full in Baltimore and elsewhere, we can expect to hear more from the presidential candidates on proposed reforms to police practices and the criminal justice system.
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