Progressive Democrats hammered former President Barack Obama when he appeared on a journalist’s Snapchat series some six months after George Floyd’s death and criticized the marketing of the movement to defund police. Specifically, he called it a “snappy” but ineffective slogan.
“It’s not a slogan. It’s a mandate for keeping our people alive,” Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri tweeted at the time. She and other progressives also pushed back on claims that the movement had been ineffective, citing city actions to reduce police budgets.
In terms of marketing, however, moderate Democrats seeking election to vital congressional and presidential seats have worked to distance themselves from the call to defund police, though not necessarily the intent behind it. Results from a survey conducted by Loyola Marymount University seem to similarly suggest that Los Angeles residents—at least those surveyed—have a problem with the words “defund police,” but not necessarily the meaning behind those words.
RELATED STORY: 'Activists aren’t PR firms for politicians': New lawmakers reject Obama's take on defunding police
While 75% of liberals, 68% of moderates, and 63% of conservatives at least somewhat supported "reallocating parts of LAPD’s budget to social workers, mental healthcare, and other social services,” those figures dropped significantly when the question was rephrased as proposals to defund police. Only 37% of liberals, 27% of moderates, and 27% of conservatives supported defunding police proposals.
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What this discrepancy suggests is that Obama may have been onto something with his criticism of the marketing behind the movement.
But this conversation in no way should be siloed from the handy work of Republicans, who vigorously and intentionally launched campaigns to misrepresent the movement to defund the police. They painted a picture of rapists roaming free, murderers allowed to target unsuspecting Americans, and a confusing recording of options instead of dispatchers answering 911 calls.
In reality, the movement to defund police sprouted from public outrage about Black and brown people being racially profiled, brutalized, and killed by police. It was a direct response to viral video of Floyd, a Black father, being murderously held under the knee of white former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin for more than nine minutes. Driven to a demand for action, activists did exactly that, calling on government officials to replace rhetoric with efforts to reallocate a portion of police budgets to mental health, education, and social services. These thought leaders used the call to defund police to describe that aim, for better or worse.
“If you believe as I do that we should be able to reform the criminal justice system so that it’s not biased and treats everybody fairly,” Obama said in video published in December 2020, “I guess you can use a snappy slogan like ‘defund the police,’ but you know you’ve lost a big audience the minute you say it, which makes it a lot less likely that you’re actually going to get the changes you want done.”
Well, yes and no.
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While the call to defund police may not have left the public with warm and fuzzy feelings, the actual practice of reallocating a portion of police budgets was adopted in Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, and several other cities. And that’s just as of last March, according to The Guardian.
The city of Austin, Texas, went from spending 40% of its $1.1 billion general fund budget on policing to spending about 26%, the newspaper reported. The city instead funded medical services for those affected by COVID-19, food and workforce resources, and abortion services. It also saved some of the money to purchase two hotels to house homeless residents.
“For decades, Austin has spent so many dollars policing homelessness, jailing the homeless, and paying for emergency rooms and 911 calls instead of reinvesting those same dollars to finally start reducing homelessness,” Austin council member Gregorio Casar told The Guardian. “By adjusting the police budget even just a little bit, we are going to be able to house and help hundreds of people with these two hotels … and I hope we’ll be able to buy more.”
RELATED STORY: City tries defunding police, and people in mental health crises are actually treated like people
It’s hard to believe providing housing for homeless residents could ever be viewed negatively, but the movement the decision was born from is. Clearly, there is a misconception about what defunding police actually looks like.
Civil rights attorney Alec Karakatsanis pointed out another indicator of the public misconception that is highlighted in the Loyola poll. It shows "support for reallocating the police budget to social services is higher among **people who live with a cop** than people who don’t."
The figures are 75% versus 69%.
Karakatsanis said the poll results “should shake public discourse," but he described a Los Angeles Times analysis of them as “disturbing.” The newspaper focused on other data points in the poll, specifically those suggesting most Angelenos have a favorable view of Los Angeles police, despite “lingering concerns around bias.”
The Times wrote:
Karakatsanis argued the latter should have been more of a focus in the article. He tweeted: “What did (the) survey mean by ‘defund the police’? What does it mean that, when asked about vague, much-maligned term ‘defund’ people didn’t support it, but when asked specifically if they want to reallocate money from police to social services people overwhelmingly want to do that?”
The attorney said these are “important questions, and our news media is not helping our society discuss them in a thoughtful, complete, evidence-based way.”
The Loyola survey, which was funded by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) but conducted independently, is the second in a three-part effort to gauge how residents feel the city’s police force is upholding its mission to "safeguard the lives and property of the people the LAPD serves, reduce incidence and fear of crime, and enhance public safety while working with diverse communities to improve the quality of life." The poll included responses from 1,755 residents of Los Angeles, and it was administered over the phone, online, and in person and made available in English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Korean.
Karakatsanis said in his continued analysis of the study that it’s worth considering “1) how polls ask a question, 2) what facts people are given before they answer, and 3) which aspects of a poll the media chooses to report.”
He earlier tweeted:
The truth is that many residents do support reallocating a portion of police budgets, as long as it’s not called defunding police.
Stop Trump from stealing the 2024 election! Please donate $1 to each of these Daily Kos-endorsed Democrats for attorney general, secretary of state, and state supreme court to stop MAGA election deniers from stealing the 2024 election.
Donald Trump and his allies showed how close they were at overturning the last election, and now Republicans have put more voter suppression in place. For this election, we need you to volunteer with Election Protection—a nonpartisan effort to help voters exercise their constitutional right.
RELATED STORY: 'Defund the police' is neither stupid, nor a slogan. It is a well-informed demand
“It’s not a slogan. It’s a mandate for keeping our people alive,” Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri tweeted at the time. She and other progressives also pushed back on claims that the movement had been ineffective, citing city actions to reduce police budgets.
In terms of marketing, however, moderate Democrats seeking election to vital congressional and presidential seats have worked to distance themselves from the call to defund police, though not necessarily the intent behind it. Results from a survey conducted by Loyola Marymount University seem to similarly suggest that Los Angeles residents—at least those surveyed—have a problem with the words “defund police,” but not necessarily the meaning behind those words.
RELATED STORY: 'Activists aren’t PR firms for politicians': New lawmakers reject Obama's take on defunding police
While 75% of liberals, 68% of moderates, and 63% of conservatives at least somewhat supported "reallocating parts of LAPD’s budget to social workers, mental healthcare, and other social services,” those figures dropped significantly when the question was rephrased as proposals to defund police. Only 37% of liberals, 27% of moderates, and 27% of conservatives supported defunding police proposals.
Scribd Content
Campaign Action
What this discrepancy suggests is that Obama may have been onto something with his criticism of the marketing behind the movement.
But this conversation in no way should be siloed from the handy work of Republicans, who vigorously and intentionally launched campaigns to misrepresent the movement to defund the police. They painted a picture of rapists roaming free, murderers allowed to target unsuspecting Americans, and a confusing recording of options instead of dispatchers answering 911 calls.
In reality, the movement to defund police sprouted from public outrage about Black and brown people being racially profiled, brutalized, and killed by police. It was a direct response to viral video of Floyd, a Black father, being murderously held under the knee of white former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin for more than nine minutes. Driven to a demand for action, activists did exactly that, calling on government officials to replace rhetoric with efforts to reallocate a portion of police budgets to mental health, education, and social services. These thought leaders used the call to defund police to describe that aim, for better or worse.
“If you believe as I do that we should be able to reform the criminal justice system so that it’s not biased and treats everybody fairly,” Obama said in video published in December 2020, “I guess you can use a snappy slogan like ‘defund the police,’ but you know you’ve lost a big audience the minute you say it, which makes it a lot less likely that you’re actually going to get the changes you want done.”
Well, yes and no.
YouTube Video
While the call to defund police may not have left the public with warm and fuzzy feelings, the actual practice of reallocating a portion of police budgets was adopted in Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, and several other cities. And that’s just as of last March, according to The Guardian.
The city of Austin, Texas, went from spending 40% of its $1.1 billion general fund budget on policing to spending about 26%, the newspaper reported. The city instead funded medical services for those affected by COVID-19, food and workforce resources, and abortion services. It also saved some of the money to purchase two hotels to house homeless residents.
“For decades, Austin has spent so many dollars policing homelessness, jailing the homeless, and paying for emergency rooms and 911 calls instead of reinvesting those same dollars to finally start reducing homelessness,” Austin council member Gregorio Casar told The Guardian. “By adjusting the police budget even just a little bit, we are going to be able to house and help hundreds of people with these two hotels … and I hope we’ll be able to buy more.”
RELATED STORY: City tries defunding police, and people in mental health crises are actually treated like people
It’s hard to believe providing housing for homeless residents could ever be viewed negatively, but the movement the decision was born from is. Clearly, there is a misconception about what defunding police actually looks like.
Civil rights attorney Alec Karakatsanis pointed out another indicator of the public misconception that is highlighted in the Loyola poll. It shows "support for reallocating the police budget to social services is higher among **people who live with a cop** than people who don’t."
The figures are 75% versus 69%.
Karakatsanis said the poll results “should shake public discourse," but he described a Los Angeles Times analysis of them as “disturbing.” The newspaper focused on other data points in the poll, specifically those suggesting most Angelenos have a favorable view of Los Angeles police, despite “lingering concerns around bias.”
The Times wrote:
Karakatsanis argued the latter should have been more of a focus in the article. He tweeted: “What did (the) survey mean by ‘defund the police’? What does it mean that, when asked about vague, much-maligned term ‘defund’ people didn’t support it, but when asked specifically if they want to reallocate money from police to social services people overwhelmingly want to do that?”
The attorney said these are “important questions, and our news media is not helping our society discuss them in a thoughtful, complete, evidence-based way.”
The Loyola survey, which was funded by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) but conducted independently, is the second in a three-part effort to gauge how residents feel the city’s police force is upholding its mission to "safeguard the lives and property of the people the LAPD serves, reduce incidence and fear of crime, and enhance public safety while working with diverse communities to improve the quality of life." The poll included responses from 1,755 residents of Los Angeles, and it was administered over the phone, online, and in person and made available in English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Korean.
Karakatsanis said in his continued analysis of the study that it’s worth considering “1) how polls ask a question, 2) what facts people are given before they answer, and 3) which aspects of a poll the media chooses to report.”
He earlier tweeted:
The truth is that many residents do support reallocating a portion of police budgets, as long as it’s not called defunding police.
Stop Trump from stealing the 2024 election! Please donate $1 to each of these Daily Kos-endorsed Democrats for attorney general, secretary of state, and state supreme court to stop MAGA election deniers from stealing the 2024 election.
Donald Trump and his allies showed how close they were at overturning the last election, and now Republicans have put more voter suppression in place. For this election, we need you to volunteer with Election Protection—a nonpartisan effort to help voters exercise their constitutional right.
RELATED STORY: 'Defund the police' is neither stupid, nor a slogan. It is a well-informed demand