Results of a new nationwide University of Massachusetts Amherst / WCVB poll released today show that a wide majority of Americans polled in the days immediately following the Derek Chauvin trial believe that the guilty verdict against the former Minneapolis police officer in the murder of George Floyd was justified and that he received a fair trial. A plurality of the poll’s respondents also believes an appropriate sentence for Chauvin would be the maximum length he faces – 40 years in prison. …
The poll also surveyed respondents’ views on various police reform measures that have been raised over recent years. Reducing funding for state and local police departments to instead spend money on social services – the basis for calls to “defund the police” – continues to face more opposition (45%) than support (38%), while 1-in-6 (17%) respondents are still unsure or non-committal on the issue. CONTINUED
University of Massachusetts Amherst