When
it comes to traffic and pedestrian stops, Americans solidly oppose
police using someone’s race as a factor in deciding whom to
stop.
Two-thirds
(63%) of Americans oppose police officers “stopping motorists or
pedestrians of certain racial or ethnic groups because the officer
believes that these groups are more likely than others to commit
certain types of crimes.” This percentage includes 34% who strongly
oppose and 29% who somewhat oppose this practice. The remaining
third (37%) support racial profiling, including 10% who strongly
support and 26% who somewhat support it. Despite strong public
opposition, fully 65% of Americans also believe police regularly
use racial profiling for traffic and pedestrian stops.
Oddly, among Americans who believe the U.S. justice system treats
all groups equally, nearly half also concede that police commonly
racially profile people. Thus some Americans may continue to
insist the system treats everyone impartially even though they
believe police engage in racial profiling. This indicates that some
believe racial profiling is consistent with a fair justice
system.
African Americans are the most opposed to racial profiling (77%), although majorities of both Latinos (62%) and whites (62%) also oppose. Black Americans are also nearly twice as likely to “strongly oppose” (56%) profiling as Latinos and whites (31%). Latinos and Caucasians are not significantly different in their support for racial profiling.
Partisans
see profiling differently. A strong majority (73%) of Democrats and
independents (64%) oppose it while roughly 3 in 10 support its use.
In contrast, a slim majority (51%) of Republicans support racial
profiling while nearly as many (49%) oppose. However, Black
Republicans differ from their fellow partisans: 65% oppose racial
profiling and 35% support it.86 Hispanic Republicans also
oppose by a margin of 57% to 43%.
In addition, although all age groups oppose racial profiling, millennials (69%) are more opposed than seniors (54%).
People who strongly support racial profiling are more likely to prioritize punishing guilt than protecting innocence. Among those who strongly favor police racial profiling, a majority (53%) say it would be worse to allow 20,000 guilty people go free rather than wrongly imprison 20,000 innocent people. Conversely, among those who strongly oppose racial profiling, 69% say it would be worse to imprison 20,000 innocent people than to allow 20,000 guilty people go unpunished. (Also see Blackstone’s Ratio: Is it More Important to Protect Innocence or Punish Guilt.)
Notes:
86 Data about support for racial profiling by race and partisanship come from the combined June 2016 and November 2015 national surveys (N=4000), which offer greater precision and smaller margins of error for subgroups. (Unweighted: Black Republicans=45.)