Defund The Police? Not So Fast

Nearly 70% off Americans Worry a Cop Shortage will Injure Public Safety

Posted on Jun 23, 2020
Taymaz Valley – CC BY 2.0,

The latest push from the radical left involves making America’s cities more dangerous by defunding the police. And since this movement is being led by Democrats, it’s all the media wants to talk about, creating the false narrative that eliminating police departments is a widely accepted position by Americans across the country.

However, according to the latest Rasmussen poll, that perception could not be further from the truth:

  • 63% of American Adults still regard being a police officer as one of the most important jobs in our country today
  • 64% are concerned that the growing criticism of America’s police will lead to a shortage of police officers and reduce public safety in the community where they live. 
  • 67% of African-Americas are the most concerned about public safety where they live, compared to 63% of whites and 65% of other minority Americans.

It’s important to note that these results are consistent with Rasmussen polling from earlier this month:

Despite the high-profile anti-police protests nationwide, few Americans believe there are too many cops in this country, and most reject the push by the political left to defund police departments.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 27% of American Adults favor reducing the police budget in the community where they live. Despite the growing political movement to defund police departments and channel that money into more social services, 59% are opposed to cutting their local police budget, while 14% are undecided.