Despite recent calls to defund the police, a majority of people want to keep current levels of funding for local law enforcement.
The poll, conducted by the Pew Research Center and released Thursday, found that only a quarter of people in the United States say spending on policing should be reduced in their local area, while 73% said spending on local police departments should stay either about the same as it is now or should be increased.
The poll also found black respondents were more likely than white respondents to favor cuts in police budgets. Compared to 21% of white respondents who said funding for their local police departments should be cut, 42% of black respondents said the same.
The results showed that a generational gap in how funding for police was viewed also exists. Respondents under the age of 50, taking all races into consideration, were far more likely to support decreased funding than those over the age of 50.
Most respondents were in favor, however, of rolling back the legal protection of “qualified immunity” for police officers, which would make it easier for civilians to seek damages from officers for misconduct. Two-thirds, or 66% of those who responded, said civilians need to have the power to sue officers to hold them accountable for misconduct and excessive use of force, even if it makes their job more difficult. Only 32% said that in order for police officers to do their jobs effectively, they have to be shielded by such lawsuits.
The Pew survey was conducted between June 16 through June 22, using a random sampling of 4,708 people reached online through the American Trends Panel. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points.
Police reform calls came to light following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. A number of municipalities, as well as the federal government, have taken up proposals to recreate policing in ways to make it more racially equitable and less excessive in force.
