Poll Shows Large Majority of Americans, Minority of Democrats Oppose 'Defund the Police'

A new poll shows that a large majority of Americans, 64 percent, are opposed to the "defund the police" movement currently sweeping the Democratic Party. The poll also shows a large majority of Americans, 60 percent of them, oppose redirecting police funds towards mental health services, housing and education programs. 

The ABC News/Ipsos poll found that, while only a minority of Americans, 34 percent, support the "defund the police" movement, a clear majority of Democrats and Black Americans support it, 57 percent and 55 percent, respectively. A majority of Black Americans, 64 percent, and Democrats, 59 percent, also support redirecting police funds to community-based support programs. 

Meanwhile, an overwhelming majority of Republicans, 89 percent, oppose the "defund the police" movement, and 86 percent of Republicans oppose redirecting police funds. Independents follow closely to Americans as a whole, with 67 percent opposed to the movement and 59 percent opposed to redirecting funds. 

A majority of Hispanics, 57 percent, also oppose the "defund the police" movement and the redirection of funds. An equal number of Hispanics, 42 percent, support the movement and redirecting police funds. 

Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has a long history of championing tough-on-crime legislation that is seemingly anathema to certain elements of today's Democratic Party. The new poll shows more than half of Democrats support the "defund the police" movement, the goal of which proponents have defined as being quite literal: a call to abolish the police. Indeed, the Minneapolis City Council, consisting of 12 Democrats and one Green Party member, unanimously voted to abolish the Minneapolis Police Department and replace it with "a community-led public safety system." 

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While Biden does his best to keep some distance between himself and those wanting to abolish cops, the radical proponents of the movement are certainly backing him. As Trump Campaign Communications Director Tim Murtaugh put it, "Joe Biden is on the defund the police train whether he knows it or not, and it has already left the Democratic station." 

Biden must now explain away his life in the Senate, where he sponsored and wrote the very legislation much derided by today's left.