Who Really Likes the Police? Older, Richer, White, Conservative Republicans.

Americans like the police, but
older, more affluent, white, conservative
Republicans really like the police. Fully 72 percent of
Americans say they have a favorable view of the police, and 24
percent have an unfavorable view, according to the latest
Reason-Rupe poll. However, favorability has declined 6 points
since the question was asked in April earlier this year. It’s
possible greater public awareness of police
militarization in the aftermath
of the Ferguson, MO protests has undermined public
confidence.

While majorities of Americans have a favorable opinion of the
police, intensity of support varies widely across groups. Most
striking are differences across race/ethnicity.

Fully 80 percent of white Americans have a positive view of the
police, with 43 percent who are veryfavorable. However only 52
percent of black and Hispanic Americans share this favorable view,
and only 2 in 10 have a strongly favorable opinion of the police.
Forty-three percent of African-Americans and 46 percent of Latinos
have an unfavorable view of the police, compared to 17 percent of
Caucasians.

Democrats (66%) and independents (60%) are also considerably
less favorable of the police compared to Republicans (85%).
However, different racial compositions within the political parties
explain part of the difference. Only 55 percent of nonwhite
Democrats like the police, compared to 75 percent of white
Democrats, and 86 percent of white Republicans.

While liberals tend to be more distrustful of the police than
conservatives—fiscal conservatives are themselves divided. Using
the Reason-Rupe
typology, social conservatives (51%) are more likely than
libertarians (41%) to have a strongly favorable view. Only 30
percent of liberals and 35 percent of communitarians share
conservatives’ strongly favorable attitudes toward the police.

Older and wealthier Americans are also more likely to like the
police. For instance, 83 percent of seniors are very favorable
toward the police, and fully 50 percent
are very favorable. In contrast, 60 percent of 18-29
years are favorable, and 30 percent are very
favorable. Similarly by income, 83 percent of households
making more than $90,000 a year have a favorable view, including 47
percent with a strongly favorable opinion. However, considerably
fewer (65%) among those making less than $45,000 annually share a
favorable view of the police, including only 30 percent with a
strongly favorable view.

A standard statistical procedure to simultaneously account for
basic demographic characteristics finds that being Caucasian,
higher income, and from the South are the strongest statistically
significant predictors of support for the police, followed by being
a Republican, and a woman.

As to be expected, those who have a favorable view of police
officers are most likely to think officers are generally held
accountable for misconduct (61%), only use lethal force when
necessary (59%), and believe the criminal justice system is fair to
all races (51%). Conversely, those with a negative view of the
police are far less likely to believe police officers are held
accountable (22%), use lethal force only when necessary (22%), and
say the justice system lacks racial bias (26%).

The Reason-Rupe national telephone poll, executed
by Princeton Survey Research Associates International,
conducted live interviews with 1004 adults on cell phones (503) and
landlines (501) October 1-6, 2014. The poll’s margin of error
is +/-3.8%. Full poll results can be found here including
poll toplines (pdf)
and crosstabs (xls).