Trusting the system: Democrats vs Republicans

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As if partisan differences aren't apparent enough as we head into a midterm election, a new poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind shows just how polarized Delaware's registered voters are regarding trust in the criminal justice system. While almost 9 in 10 Republican respondents express “a lot” or “some” trust that the police treat all suspects equally, the same can be said of about three quarters of self-identified Democrats. Almost a quarter of Democratic respondents say they have “only a little” trust or “none at all” in this aspect of criminal justice in Delaware, compared to just 10% of Republicans.

A similar picture emerges when the questions turn to evidence processing. About 9 in 10 Republicans compared to 7 in 10 Democrats report having “a lot” or “some” trust in the ability of police investigators to collect and process evidence, such as DNA and fingerprints, correctly. Democrats express significantly more distrust for the integrity of evidence processing. About a fifth of Democrats say they have “only a little” or no trust at all compared to 8% of Republicans.

Asked how much trust they have in prosecutors to treat all defendants equally, about a third of all Democratic respondents say they have “only a little” or “none at all” but less than 1 in 7 Republicans are as skeptical of this aspect of the system.  In fact, 83% of Republicans say they have “some” or “a lot” of trust that prosecutors treat all defendants equally compared to barely two-thirds of Democrats.

Democrats and Republicans differed most over the part of the criminal justice system that garnered the least trust among all registered voters in the sample - the ability of all defendants, regardless of income, to get competent attorneys to defend them. About 7 in 10 Republicans report “some” or “a lot” of trust in this aspect of the system compared to only 4 in 10 Democrats. More than half of Democrats but only a quarter of Republicans report “only a little” trust or “none at all” in the ability of all defendants – poor and rich alike – to secure competent representation.

“Some of these numbers are striking,” said Bruce Peabody, associate professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University.  “Delaware's Democrats seem to be more alert to the ways the system can sometimes go wrong.  This helps explain why they are more likely to oppose the death penalty.”  Democrats were more likely to express opposition to the death penalty.  While only 14% of Republicans said they oppose the death penalty, 34% of Democrats did so.  “The difference in attitudes toward the death penalty reflects the different levels of trust in the criminal justice system,” said Peabody, “If you have less trust in the system, you'll be less likely to entrust it with the ultimate sanction, capital punishment.”

Differences can also be found in the perceptions of Delaware's black and white registered voters.  Blacks expressed less trust in all aspects of the criminal justice system than whites. For example, 82% of white respondents and 63% of blacks say they have “some” or “a lot” of trust in the ability of police investigators to collect and process evidence, such as DNA and fingerprints, correctly.  Blacks were also more likely to say they are opposed to the death penalty.  Half of all black respondents are opposed compared to around a fifth of whites.

A  Fairleigh Dickinson PublicMind poll of New Jersey residents conducted in July produced similar results concerning both racial and partisan differences.  “We've seen the same pattern in New Jersey,” said Roger Koppl, director of Fairleigh Dickinson University's Institute for Forensic Science Administration, who oversaw both studies.  “Democrats have less trust in the criminal justice system and they are more likely to oppose the death penalty.  I don't think these are independent facts in either state.”

The differences between Delaware's Democrats and Republicans persist, but are not as strong when considering only whites who offered an opinion.  For all aspects the of the criminal justice system studied, however, white Democrats were about twice as likely as white Republicans to report “only a little” trust or “none at all.” For example, 8% of white Republicans but 16% of white Democrats can be characterized having distrust in the ability of police investigators to collect and process evidence, such as DNA and fingerprints, correctly.  White Democrats were twice as likely as white Republicans to oppose the death penalty.  “This pattern, too, was present in New Jersey,” Koppl said. “Both party identification and race are connected to some strong differences of opinion on the performance of criminal justice system and to strong differences in attitudes toward the death penalty.”

Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind poll of 651 registered voters was conducted from September 14th through September 19th and has a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points.

 

Contacts:

Roger Koppl 973.900.4543 or koppl@fdu.edu

Bruce Peabody 617.869.4885

Krista Jenkins 973.443.8390

For more information, please call (201) 692-7032.




Copyright © 2006, Fairleigh Dickinson University. All rights reserved. FDU PublicMind Poll [Latest update 061017]