WASHINGTON — Most Americans expect violence and unrest like the riots and protests that overran Baltimore to continue this summer, according to a new NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll.
And more than half of those polled expected racially-tinged turmoil to hit their city. The expectation — 96 percent — there will be more clashes and protests regarding police abuses of black Americans was equal among both blacks and whites, according to NBC News.
However black and whites differ over the reasoning behind the disturbances.
Sixty percent of black respondents say the rioting in Baltimore stemmed from “people with long-standing frustrations about police mistreatment of African Americans that have not been addressed.” Meanwhile, 27 percent of black respondents say people used the protests as an “excuse to engage in looting and violence.”
Among whites, 32 percent agree that police abuse was at the root of the unrest and 48 percent believe the protests that erupted after the death of Freddie Gray was an opportunity to loot businesses.
