NUMBERS, FACTS AND TRENDS SHAPING THE WORLD
FOR RELEASE SEPT. 29, 2016
BY Rich Morin and Renee Stepler
FOR MEDIA OR OTHER INQUIRIES:
Rich Morin, Senior Editor
Kim Parker, Director of Social Trends Research
Renee Stepler, Research Analyst
Molly Rohal, Communications Manager
202.419.4372
www.pewresearch.org
RECOMMENDED CITATION: Pew Research Center, September, 2016, “The Racial Confidence Gap in Police Performance.”
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PEW RESEARCH CENTER
About Pew Research Center
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes
and trends shaping America and the world. It does not take policy positions. The Center conducts
public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social
science research. It studies U.S. politics and policy; journalism and media; internet, science and
technology; religion and public life; Hispanic trends; global attitudes and trends; and U.S. social
and demographic trends. All of the Center’s reports are available at www.pewresearch.org. Pew
Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder.
© Pew Research Center 2016
www.pewresearch.org
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The Racial Confidence Gap in Police Performance
The deep racial tensions seen in many areas of American life1 underlie how blacks and whites view
police in their communities, as well as their reactions to the deadly encounters in recent years
between blacks and law enforcement officers, according to a new survey by Pew Research Center.
Only about a third of blacks
but roughly three-quarters of
whites say police in their
communities do an excellent
or good job in using the
appropriate force on
suspects, treating all racial
and ethnic minorities equally
and holding officers
accountable when
misconduct occurs. Roughly
half of all blacks say local
police do an excellent or good
job combatting crime – a
view held by about eight-inten whites.
Blacks are about half as likely as whites to have a
positive view of the job their local police are doing
% saying the police in their community do an excellent or good job when it
comes to …
Blacks
Using the right amount of
force for each situation
33
Treating racial and ethnic
groups equally
35
Whites
75
75
Holding officers accountable
when misconduct occurs
0%
31
70 80%
Note: Whites and blacks include only non-Hispanics.
Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted Aug. 16-Sept. 12, 2016.
“The Racial Confidence Gap in Police Performance”
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Blacks and whites also differ
over the root causes of the fatal incidents between police and blacks in recent years. Even before
the recent lethal encounters between police and black men in Tulsa and Charlotte, the survey
found that blacks are 25 percentage points more likely than whites to say the deaths of blacks
during encounters with police in recent years are signs of a broader societal problem and not
merely isolated incidents.
At the same time, whites and blacks both see the complexity of the situation. Majorities of each
race say that both anti-police bias and a genuine desire to hold officers accountable for their
actions play a part in fueling the protests that have often followed these fatal incidents, though
For a recent analysis of racial attitudes, see the June 27, 2016 Pew Research Center report, “On Views of Race and Inequality, Blacks and
Whites Are Worlds Apart”
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whites are more skeptical than blacks about the demonstrators’ motives. There is less agreement
on which is the more important motivator: For whites, it is anti-police bias (85% vs. 63% who see a
sincere desire to promote accountability); for blacks it’s reversed (79% of blacks cite
accountability, 56% opposition to the police).
The survey, conducted Aug. 16-Sept. 12 online and by mail among 4,538 U.S. adults, also found
that about eight-in-ten blacks and a larger share of whites favor the use of body cameras by police
to record encounters with citizens. Majorities of both races also believe that the use of so-called
body cams would prompt officers to act more appropriately when dealing with the public.
The survey was completed before a recent deadly encounter in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that left a black
man dead and the white officer who shot him charged with manslaughter, as well as a fatal
shooting of a black man in Charlotte, North Carolina, that sparked two nights of unrest in that city.
Only about one-third (36%) of the public says they have a lot of confidence in their police
department. An additional 41% of Americans say they have some confidence in their community’s
police department.
Confidence in local police is considerably
lower among blacks. Just 14% of blacks say
they have a lot of confidence in their local
police, and 41% say they have some
confidence. By comparison, about four-in-ten
whites (42%) say they have a lot of confidence
in their local police, and another 39% say they
have some confidence. Among Hispanics, 31%
say they have a lot of confidence, and another
48% say they have some confidence in their
police.2
About a third of Americans say they
have a lot of confidence in the police
department in their community
% saying they have ___ confidence in each of the
following institutions in their community
A lot of
The police
department
The courts
Their city or local
government
Some
Only a little
36
17
15
None at all
41
13 9
51
21
11
53
21
10
Note: No answer category not shown.
Limited confidence in community institutions
Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted Aug. 16-Sept. 12, 2016.
“The Racial Confidence Gap in Police Performance”
is not limited to the police department. In fact,
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fewer Americans say they have a lot of
confidence in the other local institutions asked
about in the survey than say this about their police: Some 17% of the public says they have at a lot
2
Hispanics may be of any race. In the American Trends Panel, Hispanics are primarily English speaking and U.S. born.
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of confidence in the courts in their community,
and 15% say the same about their city or local
government. Confidence in these institutions
is also lower among blacks than whites. For
example, 49% of blacks say they have at least
some confidence in the courts in their
community, compared with 70% of whites.
Blacks are less likely than whites to
have confidence in the local police
% saying they have ___ confidence in the police
department in their community
A lot of
Some
All
Only a little
36
Whites
None at all
41
42
39
13
9
12 6
Blacks 14
41
20
24
When it comes to some key aspects of their
job, the police are rated more positively than
Note: No answer category not shown. Whites and blacks include
negatively, but wide racial gaps persist. A
only non-Hispanics.
Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted Aug. 16-Sept. 12, 2016.
majority of Americans say the police
“The Racial Confidence Gap in Police Performance”
department in their community is doing an
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
excellent or good job in protecting people from
crime (72%), using the right
amount of force for each
Most give high marks to police for treating all citizens
situation (67%), treating
equally and using the right amount of force
racial and ethnic groups
% saying the police in their community do a/an ___ job when it comes to …
equally (65%) and holding
Excellent
Good
Only fair
Poor
officers accountable when
NET 72%
misconduct occurs (63%).
But whites are about twice as
likely as blacks to give their
community’s police
department high marks in
most of these areas. Across
most of the areas, a majority
of Hispanics say their local
police are doing an excellent
or good job.
Protecting people from crime
22
50
18
8
67%
Using the right amount of
force for each situation
19
48
19
12
65%
Treating racial and ethnic
groups equally
20
45
19
14
63%
Holding officers accountable
when misconduct occurs
18
45
Note: No answer category not shown. NETs calculated prior to rounding.
Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted Aug. 16-Sept. 12, 2016.
“The Racial Confidence Gap in Police Performance”
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
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Most whites (75%) say their local police do an excellent or good job when it comes to using the
right amount of force for each situation. Only 33% of blacks share this view; 63% say the police do
only a fair or poor job in this
area. About six-in-ten
Blacks are about half as likely as whites to have a
positive view of police treatment of racial and ethnic
Hispanics (62%) say their
groups or officers’ use of force
community’s police are doing
% saying the police in their community do an excellent or good job when it
at least a good job in this
comes to …
area, while 35% say they are
doing only a fair or poor job.
Whites
Blacks
78
When it comes to treating
Protecting people
from
crime
48
racial or ethnic groups
equally, 35% of blacks say the
75
Using the right amount of
force for each situation
police department in their
33
community does an excellent
75
Treating racial and ethnic
or good job, compared with
groups equally
35
75% of whites. Conversely,
70
about a quarter (23%) of
Holding officers accountable
when
misconduct
occurs
31
blacks say their police
department does only a fair
Note: Whites and blacks include only non-Hispanics.
job and about four-in-ten
Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted Aug. 16-Sept. 12, 2016.
“The Racial Confidence Gap in Police Performance”
(38%) say they do a poor job.
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(Among whites, about a
quarter – 24% – say their
department does only a fair job or a poor job in treating racial and ethnic groups equally.) Roughly
six-in-ten Hispanics (58%) say their local police are doing an excellent or good job in this area,
while 38% say they are doing only a fair or poor job.
Some 31% of blacks say the police in their community are doing an excellent or good job when it
comes to holding officers accountable when misconduct occurs. By comparison, 70% of whites say
the same. About three-in-ten (28%) blacks say their community’s police department is doing only
a fair job, and about four-in-ten (37%) say they are doing a poor job in holding officers accountable
for misconduct. Some 62% of Hispanics say their local police are doing an excellent or good job in
this area, and 35% say they are doing only a fair or poor job.
Blacks give their local police somewhat higher ratings for the job they are doing protecting people
from crime, though support still falls short of a majority. About half (48%) of blacks say the police
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are doing an excellent or good job in this area; by comparison, 78% of whites say their police do an
excellent or good job in protecting people from crime. Two-thirds of Hispanics say the same.
When the survey asked about how police around the country are doing in these specific areas,
Americans’ views are less positive overall, but the wide racial gaps remain.3 For example, 52% of
whites say police around the country are doing a good or excellent job of using the right amount of
force for each situation, compared with 21% of blacks.
Six-in-ten Americans say the deaths of blacks during encounters with police in recent years are
signs of a broader problem between blacks and the police, while 39% say they have been isolated
incidents.
Blacks and whites differ dramatically in how
they interpret these fatal incidents. For about
eight-in-ten blacks (79%), these deaths signal a
larger problem between police and the black
community.
Whites are more divided: A narrow majority
(54%) says these fatal encounters are
symptoms of a broader problem. But more
than four-in-ten (44%) say these tragic
encounters are only isolated incidents.
Hispanics fall between whites and blacks; twothirds (66%) say the incidents suggest there is
a deeper problem.
Blacks’ fatal encounters with police have
different meanings for whites and blacks
% saying fatal encounters between police and blacks
are ____
Isolated
incidents
All
Whites
39
60
44
Blacks
Signs of a broader
problem
54
18
79
Note: No answer category not shown. Whites and blacks include only
non-Hispanics.
Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted Aug. 16-Sept. 12, 2016.
“The Racial Confidence Gap in Police Performance”
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
For questions rating police job performance, the sample was divided randomly into two halves. Half of the respondents were asked to
evaluate the “police in their community.” The other half-sample was asked to rate “police around the country.”
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Regardless of their race, many
Americans say the public
protests that have followed
many fatal police-black
encounters are motivated by
long-standing anti-police bias
as well as by a genuine desire
to hold police accountable for
their actions.
Public says both anti-police bias and desire to hold
police accountable motivate protests
% saying protests of fatal police-black encounters are motivated ___ by ...
A great deal
Some
Not much
Not at all
NET 79%
Long-standing bias
against the police
41
38
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65%
Roughly eight-in-ten survey
respondents (79%) say a great
deal (41%) or some (38%) of
the motivation behind the
demonstrations has been
antipathy toward the police.
A genuine desire to hold
officers accountable for
their actions
33
33
23
11
Note: No answer category not shown. NETs calculated prior to rounding.
Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted Aug. 16-Sept. 12, 2016.
“The Racial Confidence Gap in Police Performance”
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
While many blacks and whites
see anti-police prejudice as a significant
reason for the protests, blacks are significantly
less likely than whites to hold this view (56%
of blacks vs. 85% of whites).
At the same time, a substantial but smaller
majority of the public believes the protests are
motivated by a genuine effort on the part of
demonstrators to hold police accountable for
their actions. Overall, about two-thirds of the
public (65%) say a great deal (33%) or some
(33%) of the protestors are driven by a genuine
desire to hold officers accountable.
Blacks are significantly more likely than whites
to say the desire for police accountability is at
least some of the motivation behind the
demonstrations, a view shared by 79% of
Whites more likely to say anti-police
bias motivating protests; more blacks
say desire for accountability a reason
% of blacks and whites saying protests are motivated a
great deal/some by …
Whites
Long-standing
bias against the
police
A genuine desire to
hold officers
accountable for their
actions
Blacks
85
56
63
79
Note: Whites and blacks include only non-Hispanics.
Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted Aug. 16-Sept. 12, 2016.
“The Racial Confidence Gap in Police Performance”
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
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blacks but 63% of whites. Blacks also are about twice as likely as whites to attribute a great deal of
the motivation for the demonstrations to the desire to hold officers accountable (55% vs. 27%).
Overall, about nine-in-ten Americans (93%) favor the use of body cameras by police so officers can
record their interactions with citizens, including 95% of whites, 93% of Hispanics and 85% of
blacks.
A smaller but still substantial majority also believe that body cams would make officers act more
appropriately (66%), while 27% say it would make no difference and 6% say the cameras would
cause officers to act less responsibly. Majorities of whites (67%) and blacks (60%) say the cameras
would prompt more appropriate behavior from officers, a view shared by about three-quarters
(74%) of all Hispanics.
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Acknowledgments
This report is a collaborative effort based on the input and analysis of the following individuals.
Find related reports online at pewresearch.org/socialtrends.
Rich Morin, Senior Editor
Renee Stepler, Research Analyst
Kim Parker, Director of Social Trends Research
Juliana Horowitz, Associate Director, Research
Claudia Deane, Vice President, Research
Anna Brown, Research Analyst
David Kent, Copy Editor
Yolanda Martinez, Digital Producer
Molly Rohal, Communications Manager
Brian Mahl, Communications Coordinator
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Methodology
The American Trends Panel (ATP), created by the Pew Research Center, is a nationally
representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults living in households. Respondents who selfidentify as internet users and who provided an email address participate in the panel via monthly
self-administered web surveys, and those who do not use the internet or decline to provide an
email address participate via the mail. The panel is being managed by Abt SRBI.
Data in this report are drawn from the August wave of the panel, conducted Aug. 16-Sept. 12, 2016
among 4,538 respondents (4,195 by web and 343 by mail). The margin of sampling error for the
full sample of 4,538 respondents is plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.
Members of the American Trends Panel were recruited from two large, national landline and
cellphone random-digit-dial (RDD) surveys conducted in English and Spanish. At the end of each
survey, respondents were invited to join the panel. The first group of panelists was recruited from
the 2014 Political Polarization and Typology Survey, conducted Jan. 23 to March 16, 2014. Of the
10,013 adults interviewed, 9,809 were invited to take part in the panel and a total of 5,338 agreed
to participate.4 The second group of panelists was recruited from the 2015 Survey on Government,
conducted Aug. 27 to Oct. 4, 2015. Of the 6,004 adults interviewed, all were invited to join the
panel, and 2,976 agreed to participate.5
Participating panelists provided either a mailing address or an email address to which a welcome
packet, a monetary incentive and future survey invitations could be sent. Panelists also receive a
small monetary incentive after participating in each wave of the survey.
The ATP data were weighted in a multi-step process that begins with a base weight incorporating
the respondents’ original survey selection probability and the fact that in 2014 some panelists were
subsampled for invitation to the panel. Next, an adjustment was made for the fact that the
propensity to join the panel and remain an active panelist varied across different groups in the
sample. The final step in the weighting uses an iterative technique that matches gender, age,
education, race, Hispanic origin and region to parameters from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2014
American Community Survey. Population density is weighted to match the 2010 U.S. decennial
census. Telephone service is weighted to estimates of telephone coverage for 2016 that were
When data collection for the 2014 Political Polarization and Typology Survey began, non-internet users were subsampled at a rate of 25%,
but a decision was made shortly thereafter to invite all non-internet users to join. In total, 83% of non-internet users were invited to join the
panel.
5 Respondents to the 2014 Political Polarization and Typology Survey who indicated that they are internet users but refused to provide an
email address were initially permitted to participate in the American Trends Panel by mail, but were no longer permitted to join the panel after
February 6, 2014. Internet users from the 2015 Survey on Government who refused to provide an email address were not permitted to join
the panel.
4
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projected from the July-December 2015 National Health Interview Survey. Volunteerism is
weighted to match the 2013 Current Population Survey Volunteer Supplement. It also adjusts for
party affiliation using an average of the three most recent Pew Research Center general public
telephone surveys. Internet access is adjusted using a measure from the 2015 Survey on
Government. Frequency of internet use is weighted to an estimate of daily internet use projected
to 2016 from the 2013 Current Population Survey Computer and Internet Use Supplement.
Sampling errors and statistical tests of significance take into account the effect of weighting.
Interviews are conducted in both English and Spanish, but the Hispanic sample in the American
Trends Panel is predominantly native born and English speaking.
The following table shows the unweighted sample sizes and the error attributable to sampling that
would be expected at the 95% level of confidence for different groups in the survey:
Unweighted
sample size
4,538
Plus or minus …
2.4 percentage points
Whites
3,485
2.8
Blacks
383
7.4
Hispanics
350
7.4
Form 1
2,255
3.3
Form 2
2,283
3.4
Group
Total sample
Sample sizes and sampling errors for other subgroups are available upon request.
In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical
difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.
The web component of the August wave had a response rate of 81% (4,195 responses among 5,150
web-based individuals in the panel); the mail component had a response rate of 76% (343
responses among 454 non-web individuals in the panel). Taking account of the combined,
weighted response rate for the recruitment surveys (10.0%) and attrition from panel members who
were removed at their request or for inactivity, the cumulative response rate for the August ATP
wave is 2.9%6.
Approximately once per year, panelists who have not participated in multiple consecutive waves are removed from the panel. These cases
are counted in the denominator of cumulative response rates.
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Pew Research Center is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization and a subsidiary of The
Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder.
© Pew Research Center, 2016
www.pewresearch.org
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