Protests Are About Changing Public Opinion, Not Cowering in Response to Polling Data
Critics of the demand to “defund the police” cite current polling snapshots as supposed proof of protesters’ electoral malpractice. They’re politically shortsighted — and confused about the key role of mass protest movements in dragging such demands from the margins to the mainstream.
Cyclists gather for a mass ride in protest of systemic racism in policing and the May 25 killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis Police Department officer on June 10, 2020 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Scott Heins / Getty
The two sets of reactions to the nationwide spasm of police violence tell us a lot about the divide between America and the political class that rules us.
Polls show that for most people, the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent spectacle of police violence has prompted a decline in cops’ favorability ratings, more support for protesters, and new demands for change in police policy.
Among the political elite, the reaction has been different — it has often been dishonesty and concern trolling.
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