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Black voters in two of America's most liberal cities sour on 'defund the police'
Oct 26, 2021 2 mins, 14 secs

A little more than a year after Floyd’s death sparked calls to “defund the police” as a step toward racial justice, Democrats, especially Black voters, have soured on the idea.

In two of the nation’s most liberal cities, Seattle and Minneapolis, polls show voters rejecting candidates and ballot questions in favor of defunding police departments.

Polls show that much of the opposition to reducing the number of police is from Black people such as Mr.

The poll found that a majority in liberal Seattle, 54%, want the city to hire more cops, while 38% advocated shifting money away from the police budget to fund ways to address “root causes of crime,” such as investing in mental health services.

Among people of color, 57% wanted more cops and 35% wanted to shift money away from the police.

In Minneapolis, a recent poll by multiple news outlets, including the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, found that voters supported a ballot measure reconfiguring the police department by 49% to 41%.

Support among Black voters was 42%, with 47% opposing the plan.

Among Black respondents, 75% oppose reducing the police force.

“The voters who give conflicting answers are largely African-American,” said Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, which conducted the survey.

“On one hand, they want the department reformed, but on the other, they tend to live in higher-crime areas and don’t want a reduction of police on their own streets,” he said.

Sharon Sayles Belton, elected as Minneapolis’ first Black and first female mayor in 1993, said Black voters want racial justice but also safe neighborhoods and police on the beat.

We want good policing, and we will need reform to get it,” she said.

The fading enthusiasm for defunding highlights the tension in minority communities between fearing the police and needing police, particularly as crime worsens.

“I think most Black people in the United States have complex critiques and relationships with policing,” said Ben Yisrael, an expert in racial equity issues in policing at Texas Southern University’s Center for Justice Research. .

Yisrael was not surprised that Black people opposed reductions in police departments. .

So the gap between Black people that think the police are racist and those who think we should abolish the police may be highlighting generational differences.”.

“He understands the importance of having a police force that’s free of bias while not necessarily abandoning public safety and security, especially for the people of color, who are often the most victimized in the community.”.

Gonzalez acknowledged that she “made a commitment to look at shifting dollars away from the police department in direct response to the murder of George Floyd and the action we saw in our city.”

They want an effective police department

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