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Support for Black Lives Matter grows among white youth

The first-of-its-kind poll also found that 67 percent of Asian and 62 percent of Latino young adults in the USA agreed with the message of Black Lives Matter and its protests.

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The Black Lives Matter movement against police killings in the US has garnered more support among white youth, a new poll conducted by the Black Youth Project and the Associated Press said Monday, while adding that support among non-white youth has also increased. Black youth are the strongest supporters of the movement at more than 85 percent.

Some respondents interviewed by the AP said watching police brutality against African Americans online helped cement their support for Black Lives Matter. And young whites are more likely to consider violence against police a serious problem than say the same about the killings of African-Americans by police.

Fifty-six percent of all young people say setting stricter criteria for police use of deadly force would be effective at reducing instances of violence by the police, including 68 percent of blacks and Hispanics, 61 percent of Asian-Americans and just 48 percent of whites. It found that in the race for President, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latino/as are going for Hillary Clinton in a big way (60-2 among African Americans, 52-14 among Asian Americans, and 49-8 among Latino/as), while she and Donald Trump are tied among whites.

Meanwhile the poll also found that 66 percent of white youth in the country thought statements by the movement encouraged violence against police. Most young adults of color who backed the Vermont Senator in his bid for the nation’s highest office now support Clinton, while many white Sanders backers are looking elsewhere-in particular, to Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. Young Asian-Americans and Hispanics are also more likely to trust Clinton than Trump on both.

The poll of 1,958 adults age 18-30 was conducted August 1-14 using a sample drawn from the probability-based GenForward panel, which is created to be representative of the USA young adult population.

Samuel Martin, 27, a white man from Conway, S.C., was among the people sampled.

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The survey was paid for by the Black Youth Project at the University of Chicago, using grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation.

Feb 1 2016 San Francisco CA USA Boomer Esiason is interviewed during the CBS Sports media availability at the Moscone Center in advance of Super Bowl 50 between the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos. Mandatory Credit Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sport