U.S. approval of police officers plunges by 10% in single week: poll

A confrontation took place between a crowd and police in Brooklyn protesting the fatal police arrest of a black Minnesota man. (HANDOUT)

The share of Americans who said they view cops favorably plunged by 10% in a single week amid nationwide protests and a wave of images of heavy-handed conduct by the police, according to a new poll.

The survey, conducted by the pollster Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape, found the overall favorability figures for police officers sank from 66% to 56% as May turned to June.

Robert Griffin, research director for the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group, said the nosedive suggests a major change could be occurring in how Americans think about law enforcement.

NYPD officers arrest protesters during a demonstration against the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. (BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images)

“This is a unique moment in American history,” Griffin told the Daily News. “To see shifts like this really speaks to what a monumental event these protests have been."

Among white Americans, who are more likely than others to approve of the police, the favorability figures for cops dove from 72% to 61%. The share of black Americans who reported viewing cops favorably dropped from 47% to 38%.

The data was compiled through an online survey of more than 6,000 people during the weeks ending May 27 and June 3, according to the pollster. (The percentage of Americans who said they didn’t know enough about the police to have an opinion slipped from 10% to 8%.)

Among white Americans, who are more likely to approve of the police than others, the favorability numbers for the police slipped from 72% to 61% in a single week. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News)

Across the country, mask-wearing demonstrators have flooded the streets in recent days to protest institutional racism after the killing last month of George Floyd, a black 46-year-old man, who died when Derek Chauvin, a white Minnesota police officer, knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

In cities including New York, some cops have been captured on video violently arresting protesters, adding to the tensions. Two NYPD cars drove headlong into protesters in Brooklyn a week ago.