Americans like their police functional, not defunded
“Defund the Police” was a horrible slogan from the get-go. First, after widespread negative reaction, many of the folks on the far left who originated and shared the slogan early in 2020 later backtracked, saying “it doesn’t really mean what it says.” If true, that of course demonstrates that this plain three-word slogan was a lousy one to begin with. Second, “Defund the Police” fed into a false, long-running Republican narrative that Democrats are somehow “soft on crime.” Feeding the other side’s negative narrative about you is something politicians, political parties and organizations should never want to do.
Now comes further proof that the liberal “Defund the Police” slogan, which was rejected by presidential candidate Joe Biden and the mainstream Democratic Party before and after the 2020 elections, was wrong-headed: a new poll from the reputable Pew Research Center which shows that a growing number of Americans want more, not less (or no) spending for police. Some of Pew’s findings are:
–The share of adults who say spending on policing in their area should be increased is now 47%, up from 31% in June 2020. This includes 21% who say funding for their local police should be increased a lot, up from 11% who said this last summer.
–Support for reducing spending on police has fallen significantly: 15% of adults now say spending should be decreased, down from 25% in 2020. And only 6% now advocate decreasing spending a lot, down from 12% who said this last year.
–The share of Democrats who say funding for local police should be decreased has fallen markedly – from 41% in 2020 to 25% today. By comparison, the share of Republicans who prefer less spending – which was already quite low – has moved incrementally lower. Growing shares of Republicans and Democrats alike now say police funding should be increased in their area.
As we have explained before, moreover, it’s not only the politics of “Defund the Police” which are so bad, but also the underlying logic. Specifically, say there is a police department that is rife with racism, even fascism, for example in its arrest rate and violent treatment of minorities compared to whites. And say the “Defund the Police” policy was implemented there, and the police force and its resources were decimated, leaving only a skeleton crew of cops, weapons and equipment. What would likely happen? First, the remaining cops would be no less racist or fascist than they were before they were defunded. They would still presumably be out on the streets harassing and harming minorities. Second, a drastically defunded police department would not be able to respond to all of the actual crime and emergencies in the neighborhood, from murders to robberies to car accidents, domestic disputes and missing children. As the Pew poll indicates, that is the opposite of what most Americans want.
When it comes to the serious problem of police violence against minorities, we have suggested (see previous link above) that the “re” words (reform, rebuild, retrain, etc.) are much more constructive than the “de” words (defund, destroy, deny, etc.) that are dramatic but unpopular and unhelpful. “Defund the Police” is an extremely bad example of left wing Purity Politics run amok. Hopefully, the slogan is gasping its dying breath.
Photo by Maryland GovPics, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/K4k47R
