Only 8% of Americans believe that BLM has improved the lives of Black people
Support for the movement dropped by 16% and opposition increased by 15% from its peak in 2020, according to Pew.
(Cordon Press)
George Floyd died on May 25, 2020. The following month, Black Lives Matter (BLM) reached its peak of popularity: 67% of Americans said they supported the movement.
Since then, BLM's popularity has fallen "considerably," according to Pew Research Center. According to data from this institution, only 51% of American adults said they supported the movement in April of this year. That is a 16% drop.
Meanwhile, opposition has increased by 15%. In June 2020, 31% of people opposed the movement compared to 46% in April 2023.
Most Americans argue that the attention that racial issues received since Floyd's death did not materialize in improvements for the Black population. Only 32% of respondents said the movement was "highly effective" in drawing attention to anti-Black racism.
Even fewer people believe it met its other stated goals: 14% say it succeeded in increasing police accountability; 8%, in improving the lives of Black Americans; and 7% in improving race relations.
Divided support
Support for the movement is segmented by race. As expected, the group that said they supported BLM the most was the Black population. They are followed by Hispanics, Asians and Whites, in that order.
There is a similar tendency with political affiliation. While 84% of Democratic supporters said they supported the movement, 82% of Republicans said they opposed it. What words do they use to describe it? Democratic voters favor "inclusive" and "empowering," while Republican voters prefer "dangerous" and "divisive."
Financing
The survey, which polled 5,000 Americans, was conducted in April, a month before the news broke that the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation allocated only $30 million to charitable foundations out of $90 million received in public donations. It is unknown what impact this revelation may have had on BLM's popularity.
That same May, news went public that the organization was on the verge of going bankrupt, having closed its last fiscal year with a deficit of up to $8.5 million.
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