A recent poll for WGBH News, Boston Globe, MassLive and State House News Service conducted by Suffolk University asked Massachusetts residents to respond to a number of questions related to the Black Lives Matter movement and the state's coronavirus response. WGBH News Host Henry Santoro spoke with Reporter Adam Reilly to break down some of the responses. The transcript below has been edited for clarity.
Henry Santoro: Let's start with what seems like the biggest takeaway from the poll, and that is support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Does that surprise you at all?
Adam Reilly: I don't know how much of a surprise it is, but it's definitely striking. That was the big takeaway for me, too. Eighty-five percent of respondents in the poll said that they either supported or strongly supported Black Lives Matter. That number alone is remarkable, but 51 percent of the respondents identified as strongly supportive, which is, again, a super striking number. And you see the support extended to certain potential reforms that could come out of the Black Lives Matter movement.
For example, 88 percent of respondents — 88 percent, nearly a full 90 — said that they want to ban the use of chokeholds by police. Eighty-two percent back this idea — which we've heard from the governor and others — of licensing police across the state and revoking their licenses if they violate certain basic standards. And there's another policy change, which would be a big deal; the governor wants to see this dealt with at the federal level, but still worth mentioning here: 75 percent of respondents said it should be possible to sue officers individually for bad things they do while they're on duty. Right now, you can only sue a police department, but a lot of people in the state would like to see that changed. There are, though, and this is, I think, important to note, there are other potential reforms where you see the support start to diminish when respondents are asked about them.
Santoro: But I think this report really showed big time with the marches that happened after the George Floyd murder.
Reilly: Yeah, no question. But let me get into some of the things that I alluded to a second ago — the areas where you see support softening a little bit. Only 56 percent say that they want to ban the use of tear gas by cops. This is part of what we've heard discussed as demilitarization — the idea that you're going to keep the police from operating the way an army does. Only 53 percent want to ban the use of rubber bullets. Again, you might think that that would be more popular given those marches that you referred to. It's not actually a wildly popular idea.
And this is crucial, Henry: just 50 percent of respondents say that they want to reduce police budgets and shift money to social services. So that's not a ton of support for what activists frame as defunding. And if you ask people, well, what about your own police department in your city or town? Do you want to take away some of their money and shifted to social services? Then it drops to less than half — 45 percent. So tons of support for Black Lives Matter [and] a lot of support for some reforms that Black Lives Matter is in favor of, but [there are] other areas where the support softens pretty significantly.
Santoro: What about police handling of people of color?
Reilly: Yeah, here again, there's a really interesting split between the way people feel about the police generally and the way they feel about their own police department. This is the most striking instance of that split. Seventy-seven percent of respondents say the police generally, all over the place, don't treat black people the same way they treat everyone else. But then when you say what about the police in your own city or town, the number drops to 49 percent. So people are so much more inclined to think highly of their own local PD than law enforcement generally. And it's really interesting, that dynamic holds across the board with various racial and ethnic groups — respondents who identify as white, black, Hispanic, Asian — they all are more inclined to give their own local police the benefit of the doubt when it comes to racism or not being racist.
Santoro: Let's jump over to COVID now because this was a big part of this this poll. What are the big takeaways there?
Reilly: Well, I think you mentioned this in your intro. [There's] tons of support for the way the governor is handling the pandemic — 81 percent approve, just 14 percent disapprove. Also, a lot of support for his handling of the reopening, but it drops a couple percentage points. Still numbers that any public official would envy.
But for me, the crucial takeaway here is that there is tons of ambivalence when it comes to activities that will signal a return to normalcy. Half the respondents said that they're comfortable right now going back to work or school. 41 percent say they'd be comfortable going out to eat. And then there are a couple numbers that are really low. They were low in the last poll [and] they're low in this one, too. Twenty-three percent say they'd be comfortable attending a sporting event, and just 19 percent say that they would be comfortable riding the T. So a lot of change in attitude will be required to get people doing those things again.
Santoro: That's for sure. Let's move on to schools — a big topic for parents right now. What did the poll find as far as schools are concerned?
Reilly: Once again, a whole lot of ambivalence. There were a few questions asked on this topic, [but] let me just pick one to keep things as clear as possible. Respondents were asked, "will Massachusetts be able to safely reopen schools this fall?" And it was an even split when you take into account the margin of error. 44 percent said "yes", [and] 46 percent said "no".
Now, here's an interesting footnote to that: people with school-aged kids were more likely to think that you could do it safely than people without school-aged kids. If you have a school-aged kid, 48 percent of you said we can do this safely. If you don't have a kid, 41 percent said it's possible. And just from my own experience, Henry, that may indicate that parents are realizing that it's really tough to try to work at home while also keeping your kids doing the remote learning they're supposed to be. It's not easy.
