Wason Center Poll: Virginia Voters’ Support for Police Reform Measures Mostly Very Strong; Narrower on Allowing Civilians to Sue for Misconduct

See below for highlights from “Part 2” of the Wason Center for Public Policy’s poll they conducted from September 9 through 21. I’m not really sure why they waited a week to release “Part 2,” as these numbers are getting old at this point, but as Trump likes to say, “it is what it is.” Heh. In all seriousness, though, there’s really no reason to think these numbers would have changed significantly in a week or two…

• By a 54%-41% margin, “Virginia voters say the country is moving too quickly to loosen restrictions related to Covid-19”
• “On K-12 school opening, Virginia voters prefer a hybrid model (46%) to an all-virtual model (28%) or fully in-person model (23%).”
• “Strong majorities support reforms related to police use of force, including training on de-escalation (96%), requiring body cameras (95%), requiring officers to intervene when a colleague uses unlawful force (94%), requiring public reports when force is used (76%), establishing a public database on police misconduct (76%) and creating civilian oversight boards (70%).”
• “By slimmer majorities, voters support criminalizing the use of chokeholds (56%-42%), requiring officers to live in the localities they police (52%-47%), and allowing civilians to sue for misconduct (52%-44%). Voters narrowly oppose banning police use of military-grade weapons (50%-47%).”
• “Voters view police positively on protecting people from crime (64%) but negatively on treatment of racial and ethnic groups (65%), the proper use of force (54%), and holding officers accountable for misconduct (61%).”