Almost half of Republicans say Chauvin jury reached wrong verdict: poll

Nearly half of all Republicans questioned in a new poll said that they believe former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was wrongly convicted of murdering George Floyd.

A total of 46 percent of respondents to the CBS News-YouGov poll who identified as Republican said the Hennepin County jury reached the “wrong verdict.” Only 10 percent of Democrats said the same thing. 

Among all respondents, 75 percent said the jury reached the right verdict, while 25 percent said it did not.

The 25 percent of Americans who said they believe the jury reached the wrong verdict also said they strongly disagree with the ideas of the Black Lives Matter movement, CBS News noted. 

Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts he faced following Floyd’s death last summer, including second-degree murder. He faces more than 40 years in prison following his conviction. 

The case was widely considered a referendum on police brutality and systemic racism in law enforcement. Chauvin’s conviction is seen as a milestone victory for the social justice movement in America, and Democratic lawmakers hope his conviction will spur momentum on efforts to pass comprehensive police reforms. 

Overall, 60 percent of Americans in the CBS News poll indicated they approve of President Biden’s handling of Floyd’s murder and Chauvin’s conviction. 

“We can’t leave this moment or look away thinking our work is done,” Biden said the day Chauvin was convicted. “We have to listen. ‘I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.’ Those were George Floyd’s last words. We can’t let those words die with him.”

The CBS News survey was conducted by YouGov among 2,527 residents in the U.S. interviewed between April 21 and April 24. The margin of error of is 2.3 percentage points.