Law and Order vs. Law and Order with Racial Justice

Abstract

Abstract George Floyd’s death in May 2020 sparked what some sources argue was the nation’s largest protest movement, centered on calls for racial justice. Although most of these protests were peaceful, a relatively small number featured violence and disorder. Employing alternative frames, Trump stressed law and order, whereas Biden messaged about how law and order must be coupled with racial justice. Part 1 traces these contrasting narratives, and in this part of the chapter, Part 2, explores their effects. With this issue and Trump’s racialized presidency as the backdrop, we show that racial attitudes, as well as attitudes about crime and policing, played central roles in the 2020 election. We also show that residing near Kenosha, Wisconsin—a site of protests and counterprotests in August 2020—was associated with attitudes toward policing and civil unrest, suggesting that the geographic distribution of protests also mattered.