A CBS News/YouGov poll of more than 2,500 Americans noted the stark partisan differences of opinion related to last week’s verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd.
According to the poll, 90% of Democrats believe that Chauvin’s conviction on all three counts — for second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter — was the “right” verdict.
Seventy-five percent of those who declare themselves independents also proclaimed it was the right verdict.
However, just over half of those who claim to be Republicans believe justice was served. A whopping 46% said the Chauvin verdict was wrong.
Another poll, conducted by Morning Consult, noted that 66% of Republican voters believe that “violence against the police” is a more serious issue than violence against Black Americans.
Read More: For 3 ex-cops, will blaming Chauvin for Floyd’s death work?
In the CBS poll, respondents were also asked to rate President Joe Biden and his handling of the situation around Floyd’s death and the subsequent Chauvin trial. Sixty percent of respondents said that they approve of the president’s management of the matter.
The CBS survey also asked respondents to rate how they view their local police department. Black Americans overwhelmingly were less likely to view their local police department as “very good” or “somewhat good.”
Writer and podcast host Amy Siskind wrote on Twitter: “46% of Republicans think the Chauvin guilty verdict is wrong, and 45% of Republicans don’t plan to get vaccinated. Who wants to draw the Venn diagram with Tucker Carlson’s audience?”
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Carlson himself said on Fox News that “everyone understood perfectly well the consequences of an acquittal in this case. After nearly a year of burning and looting and murder by [the Black Lives Matter movement], that was never in doubt.”
He has continuously perpetuated the myth that Black Lives Matter is an anarchist group that has been burning American cities, while in fact, most racial justice protests are peaceful.
Despite his opinion and those of many of his viewers, several conservative congressional leaders had no objection to the Chauvin verdict. “The justice system works,” Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan said last Tuesday. “I said last summer that what happened to George Floyd was as wrong as wrong can be, and the justice system will work, and that’s what we saw happened.
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