The 2020 murder of George Floyd by a police officer was an event of national importance for the US, with many Americans’ reaction becoming split between support for and opposition to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. In new research McKenzie Bennett examines the polarization of the attitudes of white Americans towards BLM from 2016 to 2024. She finds that, potentially driven by political leaders’ framing, party identification and attitudes towards race drove polarized attitudes towards BLM, with Democrats becoming more supportive and Republicans more negative. Her research also shows that high-profile incidents also have the potential to change racial attitudes among the white public.
In 2020, the murder of George Floyd produced divergent reactions from White Americans. Some took to the streets to protest police misconduct, while others critiqued the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and rejected its claims of police brutality. This event is a clear indicator of increasingly polarized viewpoints toward BLM. In recent years, polarization has become an ardent topic in the United States. In new research, I connect this concept to race and racial issues, exploring it as a category of polarization. This work sheds light on the role of racial events in altering racial attitudes and on the polarization of white attitudes towards BLM.