Voters place blame in 'war on police'

Only days after WND reported Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke accused the Obama administration of leading a "war" against police, a new poll shows a majority of voters essentially agree.

Wednesday's poll by Rasmussen Reports showed nearly six of 10 voters (58 percent) believe there is such a war, and 60 percent "believe comments critical of the police by some politicians make it more dangerous for police officers to do their jobs."

Clarke made his comments after the ambush and shooting death of a Houston officer at a gas station.

"I said last December that war had been declared on the American police officer, led by some high profile people – one of them coming out of the White House, one of them coming out of the Department of Justice," Clarke told Fox News on Saturday.

"It's open season right now, no doubt about it. ... I'm tired of hearing people call [Black Lives Matter] black activists. They're black slime, and it needs to be eradicated from American society and American culture. I need every law-abiding person in the United States of America to stand up and start pushing back against this slime, this filth disparaging the American law enforcement officers within these communities," Clarke said.

Rasmussen reported, "With officers murdered in Texas and Illinois in just the last few days, most voters now believe the police are under attack in America and blame politicians critical of the cops for fanning the flames."

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Its survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted Aug. 31 to Sept. 1 with a sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points and a 95 percent level of confidence.

It found only 27 percent disagree there is a war on police, and 15 percent were undecided.

Only 18 percent said politicians' comments "improve the quality of the police's performance," and 13 percent said they have no impact.

"While there is usually a wide racial difference of opinion on questions related to the police, most black voters (54 percent) agree with the majority of white (60 percent) and other minority voters (56 percent) that there is a war on police underway," Rasmussen reported.

"Blacks (36 percent) are far less likely than whites (66 percent) and other minorities (55 percent), however, to say the comments of some politicians are making it more dangerous for the police. There's very little belief in any of the groups, though, that the comments are improving police performance," the poll said.

Is there a "war on cops" in America? See the BIG LIST of cops killed by gunfire in 2015

The protests, Rasmussen reported, have been surging since the August 2014 shooting of a black teenager by a white policeman in Ferguson, Missouri.

A grand jury cleared the officer of criminal charges, and the federal government declined to pursue any prosecution as the evidence indicated the teen, at nearly 300 pounds, charged the officer and tried to wrest his gun from him.

Nevertheless, the "Black Lives Matter" movement was launched, fueling accusations that police departments across the country are discriminating against blacks.

Rasmussen found 82 percent of black voters think most black Americans get unfair treatment from police. White voters by a 56 percent to 30 percent margin disagree.

And 72 percent of Americans have a favorable view of police where they live.

Seventy-eight percent of Republicans think there is a war on police now, compared to 48 percent of Democrats and 52 percent of voters "not affiliated with either major party."

Twenty-six percent of Democrats say political comments critical of police are helping the officers, while only 12 percent of GOP voters believe that.

More than three-fourths of those who already say there is a war on cops "believe the critical comments by some politicians make it more dangerous for the cops."

And 70 percent of voters believe that the level of crime in low-income city neighborhoods is a bigger problem that police discrimination against minorities.

Eric Golub in a commentary at Communities Digital News said Black Lives Matter is just the latest iteration of the Black Panther and the New Black Panther parties.

"The violence in our streets did not start with President Obama, but he owns the current round of it lock, stock and barrel," he wrote. "His ideological fingerprints are all over it.

"When a white Cambridge police officer legally detained an arrogant black Harvard professor who shouted at him, 'Don't you know who I am?' Obama reflexively and wrongly assumed that the white police officer 'acted stupidly,'" he wrote.

Just a couple of weeks earlier, the chief of the Seattle Police Officer's Guild accused the federal government of declaring "war on cops."

The group's president, Ron Smith, said, "The administration's message has fueled the war on cops!! Quote me!!"

Louisiana State Sen. Elbert Guillory was quoted at Breitbart saying, "In Ferguson, Obama and [then-Attorney General Eric] Holder had to find something. That was a terrible mistake; undermining the police officers there and of police officers in general.

The Washington Post also reported that Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, believes law enforcement is under assault "due in part to enmity toward policy from the Obama administration."

He said: "Cops across this country are feeling the assault. They're feeling the assault from the president from the top on down as we see. Whether it's in Ferguson or Baltimore, the response of senior officials of the president, of the attorney general, is to vilify law enforcement. That is fundamentally wrong, and it is endangering the safety and security of us all."

Watch Clarke's comments:

WND has created the "BIG LIST of cops killed by gunfire in 2015.

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