61% of State Residents Support Protests
And Biden now leads Trump by 8% in state, latest Marquette poll finds.
Large majorities of Wisconsinites support the protests against racial injustice and police brutality that have swept across the state in the last month, a new poll from the Marquette University Law School poll found.
In Wisconsin 61 percent said they approve of the protests, while 36 percent said they disapproved.
The poll, which was taken between June 14 and June 18, was released on the day after protesters in Madison beat a state senator and pulled down two statues at the state Capitol. Its results do not reflect public opinion or reaction to those events.
But the results are in line with national trends around the broader protest movement. National polls have found strong support for the protests themselves and strong identification with messages that racism and discrimination are problems that need to be addressed.
The poll also found that views about police varied widely depending on the race of respondents, with 90 percent of white residents surveyed saying police make them feel “mostly safe.” That number dropped to 43 percent of Black respondents.
It was the first time the respected statewide poll has been conducted since the nationwide protest movement was set off by the alleged murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in late May.
In the presidential race, the poll found presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden leading Republican Donald Trump by a comfortable 8-point margin, with totals at 49 percent for Biden and 41 percent for Trump.
In May, the poll focused on the public’s opinion of the statewide “Safer at Home” order and Gov. Tony Evers’ handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. It found that 69 percent of voters said it was appropriate to close schools and businesses and restrict public gatherings. That poll was released on May 12; the state Supreme Court threw out the statewide stay-at-home order the next day.
In the latest poll, only 19 percent of those surveyed said they were very worried about COVID-19, down 6 percentage points from May.
Poll: 61 Percent Of Wisconsinites Support Protests Against Racism, Police Brutality was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
More about the 2020 Racial Justice Protests
- Op Ed: ‘We Need More’ - Charles Q. Sullivan - Mar 4th, 2022
- Milwaukee Officers Circulate “2020 Riot” Coins? - Isiah Holmes - Nov 14th, 2021
- City Hall: Police Department Tweets Lied To Public - Jeramey Jannene - Oct 27th, 2021
- Lawmakers Request Civil Rights Probe of Tosa PD - Isiah Holmes - Jul 23rd, 2021
- How Does Police Reform Compare To Other Cities? - Jeramey Jannene - Jun 14th, 2021
- Bowen Introduces Package of Policing Bills - Isiah Holmes - Jun 4th, 2021
- Activists Reflect on a Year of Protest - Isiah Holmes - Jun 3rd, 2021
- One Year After George Floyd’s Death - Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service - May 30th, 2021
- Op Ed: After a Year of Protests What’s Changed? - Angela Lang - May 27th, 2021
- Film: Bullhorn Films Documents Protests - Michael Holloway - May 20th, 2021
Read more about 2020 Racial Justice Protests here
I am glad that this shows Statewide support, not just Milwaukee. Unfortunately, those statistics will probably look very different on the next poll.