Law and order concerns polling strongly ahead of elections

Most Americans are concerned with maintaining law and order, with some interesting results by party and race. Neither presidential candidate has a clear edge on this issue, but the incumbent gets negative marks for his handling of the recent protests that have been sparked by the death of George Floyd and others over the past few months. The Monmouth University Poll finds that few Americans feel that the suburbs are under significant threat from undesirable consequences of greater integration. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of Americans say that maintaining law and order is a major problem in the country right now. Another 25% say it is a minor problem and 8% say it is not a problem. There are some interesting variations by party combined with race*. Republicans and independents who lean toward the Republican Party (77%) are the most likely to say this is a major problem. Only 46% of white non-Republicans agree. However, non-Republicans who are Black (60%) or of another race or ethnicity (66%) are more likely than white non-Republicans to feel this way. “It appears we are looking at a divergence between politics and experience. Among white Americans, partisanship creates a clear dividing line on whether law and order is a problem. But for people of color, partisan identity does not seem to be driving their opinion on this issue,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute. Neither presidential candidate has a decisive advantage in public trust on this issue. Slightly over half (52%) are very or somewhat confident that Joe Biden can maintain law and order if he is elected president, while slightly under half (48%) say the same about Donald Trump if he is reelected. “It’s not clear whether Trump’s law and order message has moved the needle at all because we don’t have trends on this question. But there is some potential for softening Latino support for Biden, for example, given the racial differences in opinion among non-Republicans,” said Murray. One in four (24%) Americans feel the actions taken during recent protests about police involvement in the deaths of Black civilians were fully justified. This is down from 30% who said the same in late June, but still higher than 17% in Monmouth’s early June poll. Another 40% say the protestors actions’ were partially justified (35% in late June and 37% in early June) and 31% say they were not at all justified (29% in late June and 38% in early June). The poll also finds a drop in the number of Americans who say that the anger driving these protests, regardless of the actual actions, is fully justified. Currently, 39% say this anger is fully justified, compared to 46% in late June and 57% in early June. Another 34% say this anger is partially justified (up from 28% in late June and 21% in early June) and 24% say it is not at all justified (compared to 23% in late June and 18% in early June). Republicans and GOP-leaners are much less likely to say that the underlying anger is fully justified than they were at the start of the protests (15% now, compared to 18% in late June and 40% in early June). However, this opinion has also declined among Black non-Republicans (58% now, 68% late June, 74% early June). There are smaller shifts among non-Republicans who are white (65% now compared with 71% in both prior polls) or from other racial groups (54% now, 60% late June, 65% early June). “Black Americans continue to be supportive of the protests, but there seems to be a softening of that opinion as violence spills from downtown areas into local neighborhoods,” said Murray. Most Americans (61%) say that Trump’s handling of the protests has mad…