Jared Evan
Several recent polls indicate that despite the glowing reports from the media, generous donations from corporate America and displays of support from major sports, Americans are souring on the Black Lives Matter movement.
NY Post reported: The Fox poll, published Sunday, found that 48 percent of likely voters surveyed described violence in New York, Portland, and Kenosha, Wisconsin to be riots, compared to 40 percent who saw them as protests.
The results break down in part along party lines, with 68 percent of Republicans calling the unrest riots, compared to 30 percent of Democrats.
This comes on the heels of the movement being made mainstream and pounded in America’s psyche via the media. The imagery of the raised fist is seen everywhere. During the DNC, video collages set to protest music featured images of the protests.
There has been substantially less coverage of the frequently violent protests on daily news reports and pundit shows on cable news, leading many to take to alternative sources such as You Tube, Twitch and other live streams to see the nightly outbursts. One can draw the conclusion these raw live feeds, which are basically ignored by the press are having a huge impact. A live feed without the aid of a professional editing staff and news writers, tells a vastly different story to the public. It is harder to control the narrative when there are other sources available, right at the public’s fingertips.
When you witness a live riot on your smartphone, it is exceedingly difficult for the normal American to look at these events as “peaceful protests”
Meanwhile, several other polls indicate the drastically shifting public sentiment.
In a largely ignored poll from early July, National Reported that the majority of Americans believe the Black Lives Matter movement has not improved race relations, according to a poll from Monmouth University, with 38 percent of respondents saying BLM has hurt racial issues in America, compared to 26 percent who say the movement has helped. These numbers were only taken, after 5 weeks of BLM protests which sprung from the George Floyd killing.
In another interesting poll from Civiqs, in late July showed 41 per cent supporting BLM and 44 per cent opposing the movement.
More recently a September Politico-Morning Consult poll found that 52 percent of voters hold favorable opinions of Black Lives Matter, marking a 9-point dip from a similar poll released in June.
