Story at a glance
- A new Pew Research Center study found that fewer adults support the Black Lives Matter movement than a year ago.
- The movement gained a resurgence amid national protests following the 2020 killing of George Floyd.
- The survey found that 51 percent of U.S. adults back the movement now.
Fewer Americans support the Black Lives Matter movement, according to a new survey.
The Pew Research Center survey published Wednesday shows 51 percent of U.S. adults support the movement, which resurged in 2020 amid national protests following the death of George Floyd.
Support for BLM has fallen since last year, when another Pew survey found 56 percent of U.S. adults backed the movement.
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Two-thirds of U.S. adults said they supported the movement following Floyd’s death in 2020, according to a Pew analysis of the 5,073-person survey.
Opinions on the movement vary by race, age and political leaning.
Black adults are the most likely to back the movement. According to the survey, 81 percent of Black adults in the U.S. support the Black Lives Matter movement, while 63 percent of Asian adults, 61 percent of Hispanic adults and 42 percent of white adults support it.
White adults are less likely to support the BLM movement and are the most likely to believe that it is “divisive” or “dangerous,” the survey shows.
Younger adults are also more likely to support the movement.
Pew found that 64 percent of U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 29 back the Black Lives Matter movement. Meanwhile, 52 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds support the movement, 46 percent of 50- to 64-year-olds, and 41 percent of people 65 and older support the movement.
Younger adults are also more likely to think positively of the movement. The survey shows that 41 percent of adults 18-29 years old describe the movement well or very well.
Almost 50 percent of young adults also said they believe the movement has been highly effective at bringing attention to racism, while 32 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds, 27 percent of 50- to 64-year-olds and 22 percent of people 65 and older said the same, according to the survey.
Adults who align themselves more with the Democratic party are more likely to support the movement as well, the survey shows.
Out of survey respondents, 84 percent of people who identified as Democrats or Democratic leaners support the movement, while 82 percent of Republicans or Republican leaners oppose it.
Democrats are also far more likely than Republicans to use words like “empowering” and “inclusive” to describe the movement.
Meanwhile, Republicans were far more likely to use words like “dangerous” and “divisive” to describe the movement.
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