Respect for Cops at Near-Record High in the U.S., Poll Finds

The amount of respect Americans have for police surged this year to a nearly record-breaking level, a new poll shows.

Three in four Americans, or 76%, say they have a “great deal” of respect for local law enforcement, which is a significant increase since 2015 and just one percentage point below the record high of 77% recorded in 1967, according to a Gallup poll released this week.

The spike in figures accounts for white people and those considered “nonwhite” who were surveyed. Eighty-percent of white people and 67% of nonwhites report having a great deal of respect for police officers who patrol their communities. The poll was conducted during a tense time in the U.S. after several high-profile fatal police shootings of unarmed black men as well as a number of shooting deaths of on-duty police officers.

Gallup has gauged the public’s respect for police nine times since 1965. The latest poll also found that American’s confidence in police also rose this year after falling to a 22-year low in 2015.

A random sampling of 1,017 adults throughout the country was interviewed for the poll between Oct. 5 and Oct. 9. The margin of error is ±4 percentage points.