Younger Voters Do Not Trust the Police, Support an end to Qualified Immunity
By Ethan Winter and Sean McElwee
In a June survey, Data for Progress polled voters about their beliefs about police, police violence, the recent protests, and proposed reforms. Here, we focus on responses broken out according to age.
While overall voters think that the police can be trusted, attitudes are highly correlated with age. Indeed, the opinions of voters aged 18-29 are somewhat divergent in this regard. Of the age demographics we use here--18 to 29, 30 to 39, 40 to 49, 50 to 59, 60 to 69, 70+--voters between 18 to 29 are the only grouping where a majority (59 percent) said that the police can’t be trusted.
What’s likely driving this attitude among voters aged 18 to 29, at least in part, is the rapid erosion of trust in the police that’s taken place in the past few days, as police have--quite publicly--attempted to violently suppress protests across the United States. To measure this, we asked voters if the events of the past few days changed their beliefs about the police, offering them three choices, one indicating that their trust had increased, another that their trust decreased, and an option if their level of trust remained roughly the same.
In a previous blog, we noted among all voters, a 21-percentage-point margin reported that recent events of the past few days made them trust the police less (37 percent less likely to trust, 16 percent more likely to trust), attitudes are, again, tightly correlated with age. A 39-point and 30-point margin of voters aged 18 to 29 and 30 to 39, respectively, said they’re now less likely to trust the police.
Connected to this is that younger voters tend to fault the police, not the protesters, for the violent turn of some of the demonstrations of the past few days. While among all voters, an 11-point margin faults the protesters for the violence (39 percent police, 48 percent protesters), this reverses among voters under the age of 49. Voters aged 18 to 29, 30 to 39, and 40 to 49, report that the police are to blame for the violence by an 11-point, 21-point, and 5-point margin, respectively.
Younger voters also oppose the deployment of the U.S. military to suppress protests. While this proposal is rejected by voters by a two-point margin (41 percent support, 43 percent oppose), opposition to it is most vociferous among younger voters. Indeed, those voters age 18 to 29 are the only age bracket where total opposition to this proposal is the majority position (53 percent oppose).
Younger voters also strongly support ending the practice of “Qualified Immunity” protections for police officers. Under this rule, agents of the state are, barring few exceptions, shielded from legal liability for actions taken while on the job. While there’s plurality support for ending qualified immunity overall, support for ending the practice is most robust among younger voters. Those aged 18 to 29 and 30-39 support ending it by a 27-point and 40-point margin, respectively.
Ethan Winter @EthanBWinter is an analyst at Data for Progress.
Sean McElwee @SeanMcElwee is a co-founder and the Executive Director of Data for Progress.
From June 4 to June 6, 2020, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,352 likely voters nationally using web-panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ± 2.7 percentage points.
Which of the following comes closest to your views about the police?
Police officers can generally not be trusted
Police officers can generally be trusted
How have the events of the last few days changed your beliefs about police?
Made me less likely to trust police
Didn’t change my level of trust in police
Made me more likely to trust police
Protests against police treatment of African Americans across the country have turned violent. Who do you fault for this, the police or protestors?
Very much the police
Somewhat the police
Somewhat the protests
Very much the protestors
Don’t know / Someone else
Would you support or oppose cities taking the following measures to address protests and demonstrations in dozens of U.S. cities in response to the death of George Floyd? -- Calling in the U.S. military to supplement city police forces
Support
Oppose
Not sure
Some policymakers have proposed ending the practice of ""qualified immunity."" The doctrine of qualified immunity prevents government officials from being sued for actions performed in their official capacity.
Supporters of ending qualified immunity say that it allows police officers and other government officials to violate people's rights without facing punishment.
Opponents of ending qualified immunity say that police officers and other government officials won't be able to do their jobs if they're constantly worried about being sued for doing what needs to be done to restore order.
Would you support or oppose ending qualified immunity?
Strongly support
Somewhat support
Somewhat oppose
Strongly oppose
Don’t know