The Gap Between How Black and White Americans View Police, In 3 Charts

By Kenrya Rankin Sep 30, 2016

A new survey from the Pew Research Center provides statistics on a matter that a quick look at your social media feeds will likely confirm: Overall, Black and White people hold vastly different views of law enforcement in this country.

The poll, “The Racial Confidence Gap in Police Performance,” asked 4,538 people what they think of law enforcement, the use of force against Black people and the protests that are increasingly becoming the norm following incidences of police violence. The following three charts represent exactly how far apart Black and White respondents are.

Blacks are about half as likely as whites to have a positive view of police treatment of racial and ethnic groups or officers’ use of force
 

Blacks’ fatal encounters with police have different meanings for whites and blacks
 

Whites more likely to say anti-police bias motivating protests; more blacks say desire for accountability a reason