Support for the “defund the police” movement, which gained popularity as racial justice protests swept the nation last summer, appears to have waned.
A new USA Today/Ipsos poll found that movement is largely unpopular among Americans. The survey found that just 18% of Americans support the movement, while 58% oppose it.
The poll also found that 67% of white Americans and 84% of Republicans oppose it. Meanwhile, 28% of Black Americans and 34% of Democrats are supportive of the movement.
Progressive Democrats championed the slogan last year as they called for funds to be reallocated from police departments to other community programs.
While the USA/Today Ipsos poll found that a majority of respondents oppose the push to “defund the police,” it also found that 43% of respondents said they support the push to reallocate funds to social services.
However, 57% of respondents said they oppose that idea as well.
While progressive Democrats have advocated in favor of the movement, more centrist members of the party have argued that the slogan cost the party seats in the 2020 election.
In a December meeting with civil rights leaders, President Joe Biden warned against adopting the phrase. He said, “I also don’t think we should get too far ahead of ourselves on dealing with police reform in that.”
“Because they’ve already labeled us as being ‘defund the police’ anything we put forward in terms of the organizational structure to change policing — which I promise you, will occur. Promise you,” he continued.
Finally, he said, “That’s how they beat the living hell out of us across the country, saying that we’re talking about defunding the police. We’re not. We’re talking about holding them accountable.”
Former President Barack Obama also warned that the “defund the police” slogan can lose a “big audience the minute you say it.”
The poll surveyed 1,165 Americans between March 1-2.
