LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. (WROC) — By a 60-35% margin, New Yorkers say the recent killings of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks ‘are part of a broader pattern of excessive police violence toward Black people,’ rather than ‘tragic isolated instances.’
81% say that systemic racism in the country is a very (51%) or somewhat (30%) serious problem, while 18% say it’s not very (10%) or not at all (8%) a serious problem, according to the latest Siena College Poll of registered New York State voters released on Tuesday.
Some other findings include:
- More than 80% support: national police misconduct database, federal ban on chokeholds & mental health professionals riding with police on certain calls
- Strong support for recent demonstrations across the nation, 60-36%
- 80% say recent new New York laws to improve policing will be good for the state
- When seeing a police officer, 51% of white New Yorkers feel more secure & 13% less Secure; However, 46% of Black New Yorkers feel less secure & 13% more secure
Eliminating qualified immunity (63-26% support) has strong support from Democrats and independents and small plurality support from Republicans.
A majority of New Yorkers oppose reducing police funding and strongly oppose defunding the police, while a plurality supports demilitarizing the police.
“While a clear majority of New Yorkers, 60%, say the recent killings of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks are part of a pattern of excessive police violence toward Black people, there are widespread racial, partisan and geographic differences, 80% of Democrats say it’s part of a broader pattern, while 57% of Republicans and 48% of independents, a plurality, say the deaths are tragic isolated instances,” Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said in a statement.
“Although 53% of white voters say it is part of a pattern, that view is held by 64% of Latinos and 91% of Black New Yorkers. New York City voters see a pattern 72-23%, while upstaters agree 55-39% and downstate suburbanites are closely divided.”
The full Siena Report can be found here:
By 60-35%, NYers say Floyd & Brooks killings part of broader pattern of excessive police violence toward Bl… by News 8 WROC on Scribd
