Do most blame police when a suspect gets shot?

Hey, the general public doesn't get it! The media, Dems, big tech all realize that our police force is actually run by Putin and it's open season on anyone who hasn't attended an Ivy League school. Sorry, if you're white and at least went to a top 50 school your probably ok.

Most Don’t Blame Police for Shootings

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Americans generally have a high opinion of their local police, and barely one-in-five think cops are mostly at fault when a suspect gets shot.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 67% of American Adults rate the performance of the police in the area where they live as good or excellent. That’s unchanged from our March 2018 survey. Just nine percent (9%) rate their local cops poorly. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

A grand jury in Columbus, Ohio, last week cleared Officer Nicholas Reardon of criminal wrongdoing in last year’s shooting death of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant. Body-camera video showed Bryant was about to stab another woman when Reardon shot her.

Only 21% of Americans believe that generally speaking, most deaths that involve the police are the fault of the police officer. Forty-seven percent (47%) say the suspect is at fault in most police shootings, while another 31% are not sure. That finding is slightly changed from March 2018, when 52% said most police shootings are the suspect’s fault and 15% blamed cops.

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The survey of 1,000 U.S. American Adults was conducted on February 21-22, 2022 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Seventy-seven percent (77%) of Republicans, and 64% of both Democrats and those not affiliated with either major party, rate their local police excellent or good. While 67% of Republicans believe the suspect is at fault in most police shootings, Democrats are more evenly divided, with 36% saying the suspect is generally at fault and 30% blaming police for shootings. Among the unaffiliated, 44% think most police shootings are the suspect’s fault and 18% say police are at fault.

More men (54%) than women (41%) believe suspects are generally to blame for police shootings, while 23% of women and 19% of men blame the cops.

Older Americans have a higher opinion of their local police, with 81% of those 65 and older rating their performance excellent or good, compared to 56% of those under 40. A majority of Americans over 40 blame suspects for most police shootings, while those under 40 are more evenly divided, with 41% saying suspects are generally at fault in police shootings and 33% blaming the cops.

Seventy percent (70%) of whites, 57% of blacks and 66% of other minorities rate the performance of the police in the area where they live as good or excellent. Fifty-one percent (51%) of whites, 31% of blacks and 46% of other minorities believe the suspect is at fault in most police shootings. Seventeen percent (17%) of whites, 34% of blacks and 26% of other minorities think cops are to blame for most police shootings.

Married Americans are more likely than their single counterparts to rate local police excellent or good.

Americans with annual incomes of $100,000 or more are most likely to give excellent or good ratings to their local police, while those with incomes below $30,000 are most likely to give local police a poor rating. Those in middle-income brackets are most likely to side with cops in police shootings.

Government employees rate their local police higher than do private sector workers.

How Americans feel about their local cops is correlated with opinions about police shootings. Among those who rate the performance of the police in the area where they live as excellent, 66% believe generally speaking, most deaths that involve the police are the fault of the suspect. Among those who give a poor rating to their local police, however, 50% believe most police shootings are the cop’s fault.

Two-thirds of voters say crime is getting worse in America and even more expect the issue to be important in the midterm congressional elections.

With violent crime surging out of control nationwide, a majority of voters support proposed new laws that would replace local district attorneys who fail to prosecute criminals.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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The survey of 1,000 American Adults was conducted on February 21-22, 2022 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology