WaPo Poll: Three Times As Many Americans Say Police Used Too Little Force to Stop Rioters, Versus Too Much Force

Will the uproar over the killing of George Floyd ultimately be viewed by history as an inflection point on public opinion and reform efforts, or a bright, hot flash in the pan? Early evidence suggests that it may be the former. Compared to previous incidents, voters appear to be more dialed in and more offended by what they've seen in this case, resulting in polling outcomes like this:

YES, police are more likely to use excessive force against African Americans:

***post-Eric Garner (2014): 33% of Americans, 26% of whites

***post-George Floyd (2020): 57% of Americans, 49% of whites

This is the ground shifting beneath us in real time.https://t.co/wndq8pdJOG

— Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) June 8, 2020

Meanwhile, as top Democrats are more or less pleading with their left flank to drop the self-defeating and radical "defund the police" idiocy, which even Joe Biden had the sense to reject immediately, some contours of potential legislative reforms are starting to take shape:

House @GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy identified three possible points of common ground with Dems: raising the level of officer training by linking training standards to federal money, requiring more transparency about misconduct allegations, and making it easier to remove bad officers https://t.co/KwnNuxVRhq

— Sarah D. Wire (@sarahdwire) June 9, 2020

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