‘Law and Order’ Wins Votes

the floyd case has turned into the latest referendum on the presidency of Donald Trump, and this isn’t illogical. As detailed in I Can’t Breathe, Trump rose in part thanks to a reaction, among white voters especially, to protests in places like Ferguson (after the Michael Brown killing), and New York (after Pantaleo was cleared of killing Garner). Just before the election in 2016, a Gallup poll showed an amazing 76 percent of Americans had a “great deal” of respect for police.

This is true despite the fact that public awareness about the racial component of police violence has been raised since the Garner case. A Monmouth poll in early June showed that 49 percent of white people believe “police officers facing a difficult or dangerous situation” are more likely to use excessive force against African Americans than against whites. That number is roughly double what it was in 2016, reflecting what even some Republicans, like South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, are describing as a “sea change” in attitudes, even among conservatives, when it comes to recognizing the existence of structural racism.