The share of Americans who believe police funding should be increased in their area has grown since June of 2020, though racial disparities remain on the issue, with Black adults still more likely to prefer a decrease in spending than white or Hispanic adults, according to a Pew survey.
Pew found that 47% of adults now believe police funding in their area should be increased, up from 31% in June 2020 following the death of George Floyd and the height of the Black Lives Matter protests.
Though the share of Black adults who favor increasing police budgets has risen (38% compared to 22% last year), they are still less likely to prefer higher spending than white Americans (49%, up from 33%) and Hispanic Americans (46%, up from 37%).
The percentage of Black Americans who believe police budgets should be decreased declined the most of any race, to 23% compared to 42% in 2020, though they are still more likely to prefer a decrease in spending than white (13%) and Hispanic (16%) Americans.
Asian Americans largely aligned with Black Americans, with 37% preferring an increase in police funding, 22% preferring a decrease and 41% preferring spending remain where it is.
When broken down by political party, Black and Hispanic Democrats were more likely to prefer increased spending (38% and 39% respectively) than White Democrats (32%)—White and Hispanic Republicans were the least likely of any group to prefer a decrease, coming in at 4% and 9%, respectively.