A majority of blacks disagree, but Americans say by 2-1 that the federal government shouldn’t charge the white police officer who shot an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., according to a new McClatchy-Marist Poll.

Voters say by 61 percent to 31 percent that the Justice Department, which is investigating the shooting, shouldn’t bring civil rights charges against Darren Wilson.

Whites overwhelmingly think Wilson shouldn’t face charges, by 68 percent to 23 percent. But Latinos lean toward charges by 50 percent to 44 percent, and African-Americans think by 75 percent to 14 percent that he should be charged.

Also among the findings of the poll, conducted in the wake of back-to-back decisions in Missouri and New York not to charge white police officers in the deaths of unarmed black men:

 Voters think by 55 percent to 40 percent that the two cases are isolated incidents rather than reflections of the entire criminal justice system. Sixty-one percent of whites think that; just 20 percent of blacks do.

 A solid majority, 73 percent, have a great deal or fair amount of confidence that police treat blacks and whites equally. That confidence ranges from 77 percent of whites to 50 percent of blacks.

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 By 43 percent to 34 percent, voters overall think that President Barack Obama’s race has helped, rather than hurt, race relations. African-Americans dissent, and think it has hurt.

“The overarching reaction has been very different along racial lines,” said Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion in New York, which conducted the survey. “They have a fundamentally different view of what’s going on.”

In November, a St. Louis County grand jury decided not to indict Wilson in the August shooting death of Michael Brown. Days later, a Staten Island grand jury declined to charge white police officer Daniel Pantaleo, who was involved in the July death of an unarmed black man, Eric Garner.

The two deaths galvanized protests in much of the country. Although many have been peaceful, the Brown shooting led to days of rioting, vandalism and looting in Ferguson before and after the grand jury decision.

Voters tend to think the protests after Ferguson hurt rather then helped, saying by 64 percent to 21 percent that they had brought negative attention to the issues instead of positive attention. Again, that was a racially polarized view, with whites saying by 68 percent to 18 percent that the Ferguson protests had a negative impact, Latinos saying the same thing by 59 percent to 19 percent and African-Americans saying by 43 percent to 35 percent that the protests had a positive impact.

“What the protests are about haven’t gotten to Americans,” Miringoff said. “They’re not connected to what they’re seeing.”

Some have blamed Brown’s stepfather, Louis Head, for inciting riots after he used tough language, including swear words, when addressing demonstrators. He’s since apologized.

By 63 percent to 31 percent, voters don’t think Head should be charged with inciting the riots.


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