Poll: 62 Percent of Registered Voters Oppose Defunding Police

Sixty-two percent of registered voters oppose defunding the police, according to a Fox News poll released Monday.

The survey comes less than a week after a jury in Minneapolis found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of murdering George Floyd. Floyd’s death last May sparked national protests and outrage over heavy-handed police tactics of Black people. Floyd was Black, Chauvin is white.

The poll, which was conducted April 18-21 during the final days of Chauvin’s trial, also found:

• 33 percent of voters agree with reducing police funding and moving it to other areas
• 87 percent of Republicans, 79 percent of white evangelicals, 77 percent of baby boomers, 75 percent of rural voters and 73 percent of white men without a college degree are among those who oppose reducing police funding.
• 54 percent of Democrats, 51 percent of Black voters and 49 percent of millennials are most likely to favor defunding the police.
• 46 percent of Hispanics favor reduced funding compared with 47 percent of Hispanics who don’t
• The top three issues of those surveyed were the economy (78 percent), gun laws (74 percent) and health care (73 percent), followed by infrastructure (68 percent), illegal immigration (67 percent), treatment of migrants, racism, and the federal deficit (65 percent each), and the amount paid in taxes (63 percent).
• Additionally, registered voters have concerns about voter suppression (60 percent), voter fraud (59 percent), being able to pay bills (58 percent) and climate change (57 percent).
• 58 percent disapprove of the job Congress is doing, compared with 30 percent who approve
• 50 percent think some U.S. troops should remain in Afghanistan, while 37 percent said all troops should be removed

The 50 largest U.S. cities in 2021 reduced their police budgets by 5.2 percent in aggregate, according to data compiled by Bloomberg CityLab, though law enforcement spending as a share of general expenditures rose slightly to 13.7 percent from 13.6 percent. President Joe Biden has signaled support for spending on training and department oversight, rather than cuts.

The Fox poll surveyed 1,002 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide. The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points.

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