47% of White Americans Do Not Agree with "Black Lives Matter"

On the 14th, a large banner reading "BLACK LIVES MATTER" and a rainbow banner symbolizing the LGBTI community were hung at the U.S. Embassy in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] About half of white Americans do not agree with the anti-racism movement "Black Lives Matter" (BLM).

On the 28th (local time), CBS News in the U.S. reported that, based on a survey of 2,006 American adults conducted by the polling agency YouGov, 6 out of 10 people agreed with the ideals pursued by the BLM movement. On the other hand, 40% said they did not agree. The survey was conducted from the 23rd to the 26th, with a margin of error of ±2.6 percentage points.

While 84% of Black respondents and 53% of white respondents agreed with BLM, the remaining 16% of Black respondents and 47% of white respondents did not agree. Notably, 31% of white respondents strongly opposed BLM, which is higher than the 28% who said they strongly supported it. Among Black respondents, 65% said they strongly agreed with BLM, while only 9% strongly opposed it.

By political party support, 87% of Democratic supporters agreed with the goals of the BLM movement, while only 28% of Republican supporters agreed. The agreement rate among independents was 58%. Regarding President Donald Trump's response to the anti-racism protests, the proportions of respondents who said it was "too harsh" (38%) and "not harsh enough" (39%) were similar. Those who said it was "appropriate" accounted for 23%.

Among Democratic supporters, 68% said President Trump's response to the protests was "too harsh." Those who said it was "appropriate" or "not harsh enough" were 10% and 22%, respectively. Conversely, among Republican supporters, 55% said it was "not harsh enough," the largest share, and 38% said it was "appropriate." Only 6% said it was "too harsh." Among independents, 37% said it was "too harsh," 40% said it was "not harsh enough," and 23% said it was "appropriate."

Regarding the issue of removing symbols or statues of the Confederacy, which supported slavery, from public places, 55% of all respondents said they should be "left in place," while 45% said they should be "removed." Among Republican supporters, those who said they should be left in place (86%) overwhelmingly outnumbered those who said they should be removed (14%). In contrast, among Democratic supporters, the majority favored removal (74%) over keeping them (26%).

Regarding police reform, 55% responded that "major changes are needed," 36% said "partial changes are needed," and 9% said "no changes are needed."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.