Posted on November 2, 2016

Poll: How Millennials View BLM and the Alt-Right

Susan Page and Karina Shedrofsky, USA Today, October 31, 2016

Most Millennials have a positive view of the Black Lives Matter movement, a USA TODAY/Rock the Vote Millennial Poll finds, but attitudes are more mixed about the less well-known alt-right.

In the survey of Americans 18 to 34 years old, 58% say they have a favorable opinion about Black Lives Matter, an activist movement that grew from protests over the shooting deaths of unarmed African Americans. Among blacks, an overwhelming 81% have a favorable view, including 50% who are “very favorable.” Just 14% of blacks have an unfavorable opinion.

Whites have a positive impression of the movement by 53%-39%, Hispanics by 64%-31%, and Asian Americans by 54%-40%.

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The online poll of 1,299 young adults, including an over-sample of minorities, was taken Oct. 21-24 by Ipsos Public Affairs. {snip}

The alt-right movement, which includes groups on the far right, has gained attention recently because of the support for Donald Trump by some white supremacists and anti-Semites. But it is much less well-known among Millennials. Nearly half of those surveyed, 45%, say they don’t know enough about the alt-right to have an opinion of it, compared with just 8% who say that of Black Lives Matter.

Among those who express an opinion, 34% say they have a favorable opinion of the alt-right, 21% an unfavorable one.

Among whites, the favorable-unfavorable divide is 33%-19%. Among African Americans, it is 31%-27%. Among Hispanics, 46%-23%. Among Asian Americans, 37%-23%.

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