The effect of the 2020 racial justice protests on attitudes and preferences in rural and urban America

Abstract Objective This paper seeks to understand the impact of sustained protests for racial justice on attitudes toward racial minorities, the police, and policies that would benefit racial minorities. Methods Using a large, nationally representative survey collected before and after the death of George Floyd and the protest movement that followed it, I employ a propensity score matching to identify the causal impact of these protests on perceptions of discrimination against blacks, favorability of the police, racial prejudice, and support for reparations for slavery. I also identify heterogeneous effects in rural America to identify the limits of these attitude shifts. Results I find evidence that George Floyd's death caused an increased perception of discrimination against blacks, decreased favorability of the police, decreased racial prejudice, and increased support for reparations. I also find muted and heterogeneous effects in rural America. Conclusion These findings speak to the power of social protest to shift attitudes and policy preferences and to the persistent divide between urban and rural Americans.