Most Voters See Police Violence as a Problem — and Common Against Black Americans

Voters are slightly more likely to say they think law enforcement violence against the public is a serious problem now, after Tyre Nichols’ death in Memphis, than they were after the police murder of George Floyd in 2020, according to a new Morning Consult/Politico survey.

Most voters see police violence as a problem

• According to a survey conducted after the release of police body camera footage from the incident that preceded Nichols’ death, 3 in 4 voters say police violence against the public is a very or somewhat serious problem in the United States. It’s slightly higher than the 73% in a June 2020 survey conducted amid nationwide protests after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered Floyd about a month earlier. 
• A majority of Republican voters (56%) see police violence against the public as a problem, higher than in June 2020 amid nationwide Black Lives Matter demonstrations or in May 2021 after Chauvin’s trial dominated headlines. Roughly 9 in 10 Democrats (89%) share this sentiment in the latest survey, in line with the previous surveys.
• Among the electorate’s Black Americans, who have been found to be killed by police at higher rates than white Americans, 86% view police violence as a problem in the country, including 59% who say it is “very serious.” The latter figure is down from 79% in May 2021, as more Black voters say the problem is “somewhat serious.”

How Washington sees police reform

Following Floyd’s murder in 2020, the Democratic-controlled House passed legislation dubbed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in 2021 to rein in the use of excessive force by police officers, but the measure failed in the narrowly divided Senate. 

Calls for such legislation have re-emerged following Nichols’ death. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a key holdout in the last police reform debate, floated a proposal to break 2021’s impasse, and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has called on Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) to revive talks.

This time around, proponents will also have to grapple with a Republican-controlled House. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) suggested on NBC’s “Meet The Press” over the weekend that there’s no “law that can stop that evil that we saw” in Memphis and that the issue may be best handled at the state level, though he did offer the idea of federal financial incentives as an alternative to sweeping national policy.

When it comes to lawmakers’ voters, the public’s concerns about police violence are generally joined by a widespread belief that there’s a specific problem against Black people — though the issue is divisive politically.

Most voters think police violence against Black Americans is common

• Roughly 3 in 5 voters (62%) say police violence against Black people is widespread and common, compared with 38% who say it is rare.
• The question divides partisans, with 84% of Democrats saying law enforcement brutality is a regular occurrence and 62% of Republicans saying it is infrequent.  
• While most white voters (57%) see police violence against Black people as rife, the sentiment is held by far more Black voters (84%). 

The latest Morning Consult/Politico survey was conducted Jan. 27-29, 2023, among a representative sample of 1,977 registered voters, with an unweighted margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.