How Trump and the BLM movement changed white voters' minds

Fifty-nine percent of voters, including 52 percent of white voters, believe the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police in Minneapolis was “part of a broader pattern of excessive police violence toward African Americans,” the poll found. The Black Lives Matter movement and the police had similar favorability ratings, with 44 percent of registered voters viewing the movement as “very favorable,” almost identical to the 43 percent rating for the police…

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“I probably didn’t understand what bringing people together meant until Trump started talking the way he does,” said Rita Hopkins, 55, from rural Clark County, Mo., in the northeastern part of the state. “Now I see what a president says can divide people.”…

Many activists, progressive political groups, and civil rights organizations draw a direct line to these changing attitudes and the events of the recent months. Renewed attention ignited by the death of Mr. Floyd — as well as others who died at the hands of police, including Breonna Taylor of Kentucky, Rayshard Brooks of Georgia, and Elijah McClain of Colorado — has built on other moments of awakening, like the surprise of the 2016 election of Mr. Trump, said Nell Irvin Painter, a historian and the author of “The History of White People.”

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“The great stall point after the civil rights movement was white people not being able to talk to other white people about whiteness,” Ms. Painter said. “That has to happen before anything can change. Now, many white people are stepping up and saying, ‘Oh we’ve got to talk about this.’”

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