According to a recent Marquette Law School poll, voters in Wisconsin, a key swing state, have soured on both the protests and the Black Lives Matter movement following the looting and riots in Kenosha.
“In June approval of protests was widespread, with 61 percent approving of the protests and 36 percent disapproving,” the poll found. “Approval declined in August with 48 percent approving and 48 percent disapproving.”
The authors of the study found the biggest decline to be amongst those living in suburban areas.
BLM’s approval “declined in each of five urban-suburban categories including cities, suburbs, exurbs, small towns, and rural areas,” the study’s authors note. “In August more respondents approved than disapproved in cities. Suburban areas, which were substantially net positive in June, became net negative on approval in August, though not as negative as exurban, small towns or rural areas.”
As observed by the Daily Wire, this drop is likely to have been directly the result of the recent Kenosha protests, as suburbanites were “largely unaware of protests (and ensuing riots) when they were affecting major urban areas but began to pay attention when Kenosha, a more suburban, more residential area of Wisconsin, started seeing some damage.”
Widespread violence and riots broke out in Kenosha following the August 23 police shooting of a 29-year-old black man, Jacob Blake, which was captured on video. The Kenosha Professional Police Association issued a statement providing details leading up to the shooting that inexplicably did nothing to quell the violence. Police officers state Blake was armed with a knife and “forcefully fought” with officers who attempted to arrest him, even after officers shot Tasers two times. Police were dispatched to the location following a complaint that Blake was attempting to steal the caller’s keys and a vehicle. Officers were also aware that Blake had an open warrant for sexual assault of a minor.
Associated Press reported,
The bystander who recorded the shooting, 22-year-old Raysean White, said he saw Blake scuffling with three officers and heard them yell, “Drop the knife! Drop the knife!” before gunfire erupted. He said he didn’t see a knife in Blake’s hands. State investigators have said only that officers saw a knife on the floor of the car. They have not said whether Blake threatened anyone with it.
The backlash against the shooting was predictably immediate, and eventually led to violent protests and the defensive killing of two of the violent protesters by 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, as well as the murder of a Trump supporter in Portland by Leftists who were captured on video saying, “Hey, we got a Trumper right here” just before firing two fatal shots.
The study also found that decline in support for the protests was seen across all political parties, including among Democrats.
Residents in Kenosha are dismayed by the absence of law and order permitted by the city’s failed leadership.
“I never thought this would happen here. This is organized crime. This is terrorism. They’re destroying our city, and I think a lot of the people who are coming in at night and doing it aren’t from here,” Brenda Brady, an art store owner, told the Chicago Tribune. “That’s why I was OK with them bringing in the National Guard. I wish they would have done it sooner.”
The Daily Wire points out that the decline also lines up with the recent Democratic and Republican National Conventions. While President Trump and several speakers at the RNC repeatedly addressed and repudiated the riots, speakers at the DNC, including Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden, did not. In fact, the speakers at the DNC entirely ignored the chaos and lawlessness plaguing Democrat-run cities across the country. In fact, the Biden campaign has been accused of staying quiet on the violence and riots until poll numbers began to reflect the frustration of Americans over the unchecked chaos.
“He’s got to come out and tell people what he is going to do to deal with the issue of police reform in this country, and that what’s happening now is happening on Donald Trump’s watch, and when he is the president, Kamala Harris is the vice president, then they will take care of this problem. But guess what, the rioting has to stop,” CNN’s Don Lemon told Chris Cuomo. “Chris, as you know and I know, it’s showing up in the polls, it’s showing up in focus groups. It’s the only thing right now that’s sticking.”
It wasn’t until just a few days ago that Biden broke his silence on the crippling violence destroying cities and livelihoods.
“The needless violence won’t heal us,” he said during a speech focused mostly on Blake’s shooting.
Image: screenshot from YouTube video
Raven Clabough acquired her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English at the University of Albany in upstate New York. She currently lives in Pennsylvania and has been a writer for The New American since 2010.
