The Nationalized Politics of Police Reform

Abstract Policing in the United States is highly decentralized, but recent events have propelled the issue of police reform onto the national agenda. I assess the extent to which the issue of local police reform has become nationalized, or correlated with national party divisions. I document such correlations in survey questions put to the mass public, in bills introduced in Congress, and in bills introduced and enacted in state legislatures. In the mass public, Democrats and Republicans disagree on many issues related to police reform, but majorities of both parties see a need for reform and support many of the same proposals. In contrast, Congress sees sharp partisan divisions on almost every police reform bill introduced, including bills that would enact reforms with bipartisan public support. While my state-level analysis is more suggestive, I find states with more Democratic voters are more likely to introduce and enact police-related bills. In addition to describing nationalization, the analysis reveals a disconnect: while partisans in the mass public are not polarized on specific reforms, elites at the national and state level are.