More than 50% of Russians do not consider racial discrimination and racism to be the main causes of the riots in the United States, as evidenced by a survey by the Public Opinion Foundation (POF).
Since the end of May, protests and riots have been taking place in many large American cities after the death of African-American George Floyd during police detention. One of the policemen, who knelt over Floyd’s neck for several minutes, was charged with murder, the other three of complicity in the murder.
Respondents were asked to choose which position was closer to them: the first – the main cause of riots in the United States is racism, racial discrimination, or the second – the main reasons are different. So, 53% of respondents said that they adhere rather to the second position. Only 29% expressed the opinion that racism was the cause, while 17% found it difficult to answer.
According to the survey, the most confident that African Americans are rarely discriminated against were people in the age groups from 18 to 30 years old and from 31 to 45 – more than half (58%). Among Russians from 46 to 60 years of age, such an opinion is shared by 37%, and only 31% in the group of Russians over 60 years of age.
According to the study, among those who see the cause of the unrest in something else, the majority of respondents believe that political reasons, the election campaign (8%), as well as people’s dissatisfaction with the authorities or the poor work of the authorities (7%) play a role. Such options as “unemployment, social inequality, poor financial situation”, “permissiveness, impunity, characteristics of the character and behavior of Americans” were also voiced.
According to the survey, 43% of respondents believe that the American police act the same with respect to both white and African Americans, 37% hold the opposite point of view, they are sure that police officers are especially harsh towards African Americans. At the same time, 35% of respondents said that the police in the United States react to the actions of protesters as they should, 29% called the reaction too harsh, and 12% – too mild.
The survey was conducted from June 19 to 21 among 1000 respondents over 18 years old by telephone interviews, as well as through apartment-by-apartment surveys. Stat error does not exceed 3.8%.