20 August 2020
Data: Murmuration/Morning Consult national tracking poll; Chart: Danielle Alberti/Axios
Candidates' positions on reopening schools could affect how people vote in November, according to new poll results from a Morning Consult/Murmuration nationalsurvey of 2,200 voters.
Details: 34% of adults said they would be much less likely to support a candidate for local office who pushed for schools to open for in-person learning in the fall, and 25% said they'd be much more likely to support a candidate who backed online-only learning.
By the numbers: By a wide margin, responding adults say they would be less likely (51%) rather than more likely (29%) to vote for local officials who push to reopen in-person schooling this fall.
- 40% of parents of K-12 children who are Black, Indigenous or people of color said they'd be much less likely to vote for a candidate who pushed to fully reopen schools, compared to 26% of white parents of K-12 children.
- 55% of liberal respondents agreed, compared to 32% of moderate voters and 19% of conservative voters.
Trust in government's ability to safely reopen schools has plummeted, per the survey.
- Education Secretary Betsy DeVos scored low levels of trust with 29% of respondents saying they trust her a lot or some.
- President Trump is barely ahead of her at 32%.
- The overall federal government isn't doing much better, at 36%.
- Trust is much higher in local governments, with 60% saying they trust it to operate schools safely.
Of note: Even among voters who are favorable toward Trump, fewer than half (48%) say they trust DeVos a lot or some to ensure schools operate safely during the pandemic.
Teachers and parents, on the other hand, enjoy high levels of trust, both with 71% of adults saying they trust them some or a lot.
- Interestingly, people do seem to distinguish teachers unions from teachers overall. Teachers unions have a 17-point deficit in trust (54%) compared to teachers generally.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.