96 percent of Americans think racial disturbances this summer are 'likely'

A new Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll found that Americans don't think this year's racial tensions will stop with Baltimore.

A full 96 percent of respondents said that it was "likely there would be additional racial disturbances this summer," the Journal reports. The respondents differed on the explanation for the events, though.

Sixty percent of black respondents agreed that recent events reflect "long-standing frustrations about police mistreatment of African-Americans," but just 32 percent of white respondents agreed. And 27 percent of black respondents agreed that people used the protests "as an excuse to engage in looting and violence," while 58 percent of white respondents said the same.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The survey of 508 adults was conducted between April 26 and April 30, before the announcement that the officers involved in Freddie Gray's death would be charged.