As House Democrats have created a committee to investigate the January 6 Capitol protest, a majority of voters would also like to see a congressional investigation into the deadly 2020 Black Lives Matter riots.
According to a national telephone and online survey conducted by the National Police Association and Rasmussen Reports found that 66 percent of likely voters in the US think Congress should open an investigation into the BLM riots, during which more than 2,000 police officers suffered injuries in the line of duty.
Just 21 percent of the likely voters indicated that they don’t think Congress should investigate last year’s riots and 13 percent were not sure.
Rasmussen reports that the survey found strong voter support for law enforcement on issues ranging from display of the “Thin Blue Line” flag to prosecution of so-called “quality of life” crimes.
Additionally, support for an investigation into the Black Lives Matter riots far surpassed support for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s select committee investigation of what happened at the Capitol on January 6. Just 49 percent support her efforts, while 42 percent said that they did not.
“According to a study of 68 cities by the Major Cities Chiefs Association, in the summer of 2020, there were at least 574 protests that involved acts of violence, including assaults on police officers, looting and arson,” Rasmussen noted. “The number of voters who want Congress to investigate last year’s violent protests is higher than the 49% who say they support House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s select committee investigation of the January 6 Capitol riot. Forty-two percent (42%) say they don’t support the January 6 investigation.”
Shockingly, support for an investigation into the violent riots was supported by a majority in every racial group — and even a majority of Democrats and Independents.
“Majorities of every racial group and political affiliation support a congressional investigation of last year’s violent protests. Sixty-seven percent (67%) of whites, 64% of black voters, 66% of Hispanics and 62% of other minorities think Congress should investigate the 2020 riots in U.S. cities. Seventy-five percent (75%) of Republicans, 60% of Democrats and 63% of voters not affiliated with either major party say Congress should investigate last year’s violent protests.”
The NPA said in a statement that the riots have directly led to the rise in crime taking place in cities across the nation, because not allowing police to stop them signaled that crime is now allowed.
“When the mayors of cities in which violent riots took place in 2020 refused to let police immediately stop the crimes taking place, it sent a message to violent criminals across the nation that crimes will be allowed and criminals won’t be touched,” the NPA said in a statement about the results. “For the last year violent crimes have increased nationally and the lack of support from politicians has resulted in the number of police officers declining into a short staffing recruitment and retention crisis.”
The survey of 996 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted July 16-18, 2021 by the National Police Association and Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.
