Sixty-four percent of Americans have positive views of police officers, while 16 percent offer a neutral assessment, and 18 percent view the police in negative terms.[1]
Data from the Pew Research Center, however, documents wide divides along racial and ethnic lines.
Among white Americans, 74 percent have generally good feelings about the police.
However, a plurality of black Americans (38 percent) have negative views of the police. Just 30 percent have a positive view, while 28 percent are neutral.
Most Hispanics (55 percent) offer a positive assessment, while only 17 percent take the opposite view. Among all races, older Americans have more positive views of the police than younger Americans. The Pew Research survey asked respondents to rate their feelings toward various organizations on a scale from 0-100. Those giving an answer above 50 are defined as "warm" or positive. Ratings below 50 are defined as "cold" or negative. Neutral responses are those who gave a response of 50.
Footnotes:
- Pew Research Center, "Deep racial, partisan divisions in Americans’ views of police officers," September 15, 2017
Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology. Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
Scott Rasmussen is a Senior Fellow for the Study of Self-Governance at the King’s College in New York and an Editor-At-Large for Ballotpedia, the Encyclopedia of American Politics. His most recent book, "Politics Has Failed: America Will Not," was published by the Sutherland Institute in May.To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.
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