30% Say Black Lives Matter More Than All Lives

Belief that black lives matter more than all lives is up from five years ago, but most voters still put all lives first. Voters also still favor a Blue Lives Matter law in their state to protect the police.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 59% of Likely U.S. Voters believe all lives matter when asked which of the statements is closer to their own. But that’s down from 78% when we first asked this question in August 2015.Thirty percent (30%) say black lives matter, up from 11% in the previous survey. Nine percent (9%) say neither statement reflects their point of view. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Sixty percent (60%) of whites and 61% of other minority voters put all lives first. Among blacks, 44% say black lives matter; 47% all lives matter.

Fifty percent (50%) of all voters support a so-called Blue Lives Matter law in their state like the one in Louisiana that makes attacks on police and first responders a hate crime and increases the penalties for such attacks. Twenty-eight percent (28%) oppose such a law. That compares to 58% and 24% in mid-2016. A notable 22% are undecided.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted June 15-16, 2020 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

The popularity of the Black Lives Matter movement has climbed dramatically after days of protest following the police killing of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis. Black Lives Matter is calling for defunding police departments nationwide and channeling that money into more social services. But most voters are opposed to cutting their local police budget. 

Those under 40 are slightly more likely than their elders to put black lives first, but most voters in all age groups opt for all lives matter.

Forty-six percent (46%) of blacks favor a Blue Lives Matter law in their home state, compared to 51% of both whites and other minority voters.

Republicans (68%) are much more supportive of Blue Lives Matter legislation than Democrats (41%) and voters not affiliated with either major party (42%). But then while 72% of Republicans and 58% of unaffiliated voters put all lives first, Democrats are almost evenly divided.

Only 26% of those who say black lives matter is closer to their own thinking favor a Blue Lives Matter law in their state. Among those who put all lives first, 63% support such a law, along with a plurality (48%) of those who say neither statement reflects their point of view.

Twenty-eight percent (28%) of blacks – and 22% of all Americans – consider most Americans racist.

Surprisingly, cops fare slightly better. Twenty-three percent (23%) of blacks – and 16% of all Americans – think most cops are racist. But 67% of Americans rate the performance of their local police as good or excellent.

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of all voters continue to believe that most politicians raise racial issues just to get elected, not to solve real problems. 

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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