How the Police Helped Get Biden Elected
Demonstrations against police violence seem to have mobilized Democrat voter turnout, rather than hurt it as some feared.
A woman holds a Biden-Harris campaign sign as she passes a police officer during celebrations for President-elect Joe Biden in Philadelphia.
Photographer: Chris McGrath/Getty Images
Ever since the killing of George Floyd in May set off a wave or protests against police violence across the U.S., there have been grumblings that messages attached to those demonstrations would either derail Democrats’ hopes for Election Day, fire up President Donald Trump’s base, or both.
In reality, pretty much every city in the U.S. that hosted protests—and, yes, riots—went for President-elect Joe Biden, as did many suburbs, despite concerns by anti-Trump and progressive organizers that they wouldn’t be able to mobilize white, middle-class voters turned off by the Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movements. It appears that, if anything, the protests helped Democrats in 2020 rather than hurt them, due to a galvanization of Black, urban voters.