Totally unsurprising.
A new poll commissioned by the Oakland, California, Chamber of Commerce has found that a majority of residents support defunding the police, but also want to keep the number of police officers the same or increase the number of police officers on the force.
The poll, conducted by the research firm FM3, asked Oakland residents a series of questions, including a question on defunding the Oakland Police Department and a question about either maintaining, increasing, or decreasing the number of officers.
When it came to defunding the police, 56% of respondents said they supported doing so, including 35% of whom “strongly” supported doing so. Only 36% of residents expressed opposition to defunding the police, and 8% weren’t sure about defunding the police.
But when it came to the size of the Oakland Police Department, the majority of respondents expressed that they wanted to maintain or increase the number of officers.
In total, 31% of respondents wanted to increase the number of police officers, while 27% of respondents wanted to keep the number of officers the same. Only 27% of respondents wanted to reduce the number of police officers. Yet another 15% of respondents were unsure about how to answer the question.