In the spring of 2020, the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota sparked a summer of protests throughout the United States. This also sparked another wave of radicalization within Democratic Party when it adopted the position of “Defund the Police.”
Here is why the adoption of this radical policy has not worked out for the Democrats.
Radical ideas are not popular among all Americans
As much as Democrats try to sugarcoat their ideologies, voters are smart enough to recognize them for what they are. Democrat positions are radical and “defund the police” is no different.
Recent aggregate polling shows that 58% of Americans oppose defunding the police. Just 25% of Democrats claim to “strongly support” the defund the police movement.
Republicans meanwhile strongly oppose the defund the police movement. 84% of Republicans oppose the policy.
The numbers are clear on the defund the police movement. Its advocates have failed to garner broad support throughout the United States. While many claim this is a messaging issue, the real issue is that Americans do not want to defund the police.
Americans like police officers. They do not hate them like defund the police advocates do
At the root of the defund the police movement is a hatred of police. This is a fringe position among Americans who broadly support the police. This is even more true in rural communities.
As mentioned earlier, Republicans are the strongest opponents of defunding the police. The Republican demographic is an especially important one when it comes to policing issues.
Republicans make up the majority of rural America. In these rural communities, police budgets can often make up the majority of a city or county’s budget.
These communities would presumably be struck hardest by efforts to defund the police, so it makes sense they are the biggest critics of defunding the police.
These communities understand the value of police firsthand. Defund the police advocates ignore these communities and instead choose to push their agenda. In reality, the police play a vital role in society and should not be defunded.
Defund the police ignores reality
One key theme of the summer of 2020 was a supposed awakening among people in the United States to the reality of police abuses. Thousands of videos were shared and seen by millions of people showing isolated instances of police brutality. The George Floyd video being perhaps the most notable of these videos.
The impression left by these videos and the widespread nature of them was that the majority of Americans felt that the police were an out of control force that needed to be reeled in. Out of this sentiment arose the defund the police movement.
If this sentiment was real, maybe the defund the police movement would have some validity. However, like most things the left considers to be major issues, this sentiment largely solely exists in extremely online circles of left wing activists.
To most Americans, there is no strong desire to radically change the way policing is done. Recent polling by the Pew Research Center show that nearly half of Americans actually support increasing police budgets. 21% of respondents even stated that they would like to see police spending increased “a lot.”
The defund the police movement ignores these numbers and will continue to hurt the Democrats so long as they support it.
