The “Black Lives Matter” slogan has gone mainstream. Following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minnesota police, and countless other cases of police brutality against the African American community the slogan has appeared in artwork, on clothing, and on the evening news on a regular basis.
The latest Economist/YouGov Poll finds that most Americans have a positive view rather than a negative view of the slogan. Young Americans are more likely to view the “Black Lives Matter” slogan in a positive light.
The poll, which was conducted of 1,500 US adults, finds that about three in five (61%) 18-to 29-year-olds have a positive association with the “Black Lives Matter” slogan. That positivity decreases with age, and about half (52%) of 30-to 44-year-olds and two in five (43%) of Americans between 45 to 64 years old reporting positive associations with the slogan. Only 38 percent of the eldest group polled, Americans over the age of 65, reported a positive association with the slogan.
Americans over the age of 65 reported the largest negative association with the “Black Lives Matter” slogan (44%), in comparison to 45-to 64-year-olds (34%), 30-to 44-year-olds (22%), and 18-to 29-year-olds (17%). About one in five Americans polled indicated neutrality about the slogan. Democrats are much more likely to view the slogan positively (79%) than Republicans (19%).
In an Economist/YouGov Poll conducted on June 8 two weeks after George Floyd’s death, half of Americans (52%) reported a positive association with the “Black Lives Matter” slogan, in contrast to 22 percent of Americans reporting a negative association.
See the toplines and crosstabs from this week’s Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The Economist survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,500 U.S. adult citizens interviewed online between June 14 - 16, 2020. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the American Community Survey, conducted by the US Bureau of the Census, as well as 2016 Presidential vote, registration status, geographic region, and news interest. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all US citizens. The margin of error is approximately 3.2% for the overall sample.
US Citizens were asked, “Does the Black Lives Matter slogan carry a positive or negative association to you?” Response options: Positive, neutral, negative, or not sure.
Image: Getty
