Agreement with Protests in America

Q. In the United States of America, protesters accuse law enforcement officers of using excessive force towards African-Americans following the death of George Floyd, an African-American man who died whilst he was being arrested. A policeman has been charged with third-degree murder following his death.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

	NET: Agree	NET: Disagree	Strongly agree	Somewhat agree	Somewhat disagree	Strongly disagree	Unsure
Protestors are right to demand better protection and treatment of African Americans in society	80%	11%	50%	30%	5%	5%	9%
Authorities in America have been unwilling to deal with institutional racism in the past, and that is why incidents like this continue to occur	78%	10%	50%	28%	6%	4%	12%
Incidents like this are only part of the wider discrimination against minority cultures in society	72%	16%	42%	30%	9%	7%	12%
The protesters want to loot and cause property damage, more than they want social change	54%	33%	30%	24%	17%	17%	12%
Incidents like this are isolated and do not provide evidence of institutional racism in police forces	33%	54%	13%	20%	26%	28%	12%

 

NET: Agree	Total	Federal Voting Intention
		Labor	Coalition	Greens	TOTAL: Other
Protestors are right to demand better protection and treatment of African Americans in society	80%	84%	80%	83%	77%
Authorities in America have been unwilling to deal with institutional racism in the past, and that is why incidents like this continue to occur	78%	81%	77%	88%	77%
Incidents like this are only part of the wider discrimination against minority cultures in society	72%	77%	71%	76%	72%
The protesters want to loot and cause property damage, more than they want social change	54%	49%	65%	29%	59%
Incidents like this are isolated and do not provide evidence of institutional racism in police forces	33%	28%	44%	20%	30%
Base (n)	1,073	325	419	90	136

• The majority of participants agree that protestors are right to demand better protection and treatment of African Americans in society (80%), authorities in America have been unwilling to deal with institutional racism in the past, and that is why incidents like this continue to occur (78%) and incidents like this are only part of the wider discrimination against minority cultures in society (72%).
• 54% agree that the protesters want to loot and cause property damage, more than they want social change and 33% agree that incidents like this are isolated and do not provide evidence of institutional racism in police forces.
• Participants over 55 and those with dependent children are more likely to agree that the protesters want to loot and cause property damage, more than they want social change (60% and 61%) compared to 18-34 year olds (47%) and those without children (51%).
• Men (38%), 18-34 year olds (38%), those with a university education (39%), on a high household income (42%) or with dependent children (40%) are more likely to agree that incidents like this are isolated and do not provide evidence of institutional racism in police forces; than women (29%), 55+ year olds (28%), those with a secondary education (28%), on a low household income (31%) or without dependent children (29%).
• While a similar proportion of Coalition voters (80%) compared to all other voters (83%), agree that protestors are right to demand better protection and treatment of African Americans in society – they are less likely to ‘strongly agree’ with this statement (40% compared to 59% of all other voters).
• Coalition voters are also more likely to agree with the negative statements than other voters – with 65% agreeing that the protesters want to loot and cause property damage, more than they want social change (47% all other voters) and 44% agreeing that incidents like this are isolated and do not provide evidence of institutional racism in police forces (27% all other voters).