Americans overwhelmingly view Floyd killing as part of larger problem

New ABC News/Ipsos poll finds consensus on problems in the treatment of African Americans by police

The author(s)
  • Chris Jackson Senior Vice President, US, Public Affairs
  • Mallory Newall Vice President, US, Public Affairs
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Washington DC, June 5, 2020

New ABC News/Ipsos polling finds that most Americans believe the recent death of George Floyd is a sign of broader problems in the treatment of African Americans by police and disapprove of President Trump’s handling of the protests.

 Detailed Findings:

1. Three-quarters (74%) of Americans believe the killing of Floyd is part of a broader problem in the treatment of African Americans by police.

  • Virtually all Democrats (92%) and African Americans (94%) believe this killing is part of a broader problem.
  • Republicans are split with 55% saying it’s part of a broader problem and 45% saying it is an isolated incident.
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2. Two-thirds (66%) of Americans disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling the response to Floyd’s death.

  • Only 7% of African Americans and 22% of people under the age of 30 approve of the President’s handling of the aftermath of Floyd’s killing. Two-thirds (69%) of Republicans approve of his job here.

3. Two in five (39%) Americans approve of President Trump’s handling of the response to coronavirus, unchanged over the last two weeks.

  • Trump’s support on his handling of COVID-19 continues to come primarily from Republicans (84%), White Americans (49%), and people without a college degree (57%).

About the Study

This ABC News/Ipsos Poll was conducted June 3-4, 2020 by Ipsos Public Affairs KnowledgePanel® – a division of Ipsos. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 706 general population adults age 18 or older.

The survey was conducted using the web-enabled KnowledgePanel®, which is the largest and most well-established online panel that is representative of the adult US population. Our recruitment process employs a scientifically developed addressed-based sampling methodology using the latest Delivery Sequence File of the USPS – a database with full coverage of all delivery points in the US. Households are randomly selected from all available households in the U.S. Persons in these households are invited to join and participate in the web-enabled KnowledgePanel®. For those potential panel members who do not already have internet access, Ipsos provides a tablet and internet connection at no cost to the panel member. Those who join the panel and who are selected to participate in a survey are sent a unique password-protected log-in used to complete surveys online. As a result of our recruitment and sampling methods, samples from KnowledgePanel cover all households regardless of their phone or internet status and provide fully representative online samples to the research community.

The study was conducted in both English and Spanish. The data were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race, education, Census region, metropolitan status, household income, and party identification. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2019 March supplement of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS). Party ID benchmarks are from recent ABC News/Washington Post telephone polls. The weighting categories were as follows:

  • Gender (Male/Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45–59, and 60+)
  • Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White/Non-Hispanic, Black/Non-Hispanic, Other or 2+ Races/Non-Hispanic, Hispanic)
  • Education (Less than High School, High School graduate, Some College, Bachelor and beyond)
  • Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
  • Metropolitan status (Metro, non-Metro)
  • Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)
  • Party ID (Democrat, Republican, Independent, Other/None)

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.34. The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on sub-samples. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.

For more information on this news release, please contact:
Chris Jackson
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]

About Ipsos

Ipsos is the world’s third largest market research company, present in 90 markets and employing more than 18,000 people.

Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers or employees. We serve more than 5000 clients across the world with 75 business solutions.

Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos is listed on the Euronext Paris since July 1st, 1999. The company is part of the SBF 120 and the Mid-60 index and is eligible for the Deferred Settlement Service (SRD).

ISIN code FR0000073298, Reuters ISOS.PA, Bloomberg IPS:FP www.ipsos.com

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The author(s)
  • Chris Jackson Senior Vice President, US, Public Affairs
  • Mallory Newall Vice President, US, Public Affairs

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