Most Americans support athletes kneeling during the national anthem — a reversal from 2 years ago

Americans' attitudes toward athlete protests have taken a big turn as the 2020 NFL season begins.

More than half of Americans — 56 percent — say it's appropriate for athletes to kneel during the national anthem before a sporting event, a Washington Post poll published Thursday reveals. Furthermore, 62 percent say professional athletes should use their platforms to express their views on national issues — a big shift from how Americans felt a few years ago.

It's been four years since Colin Kaepernick first took a knee before an NFL game to protest police brutality and systemic racism in the U.S. But even two years after that, in 2018, an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found 54 percent of registered voters thought it was inappropriate to kneel during the anthem, while 43 percent found it appropriate. That more than reversed in the Post poll out Thursday, which comes just ahead of the NFL's return, and amid nationwide protests against systemic racism.

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The Post surveyed 1,001 American adults via cell phone and landline from Sept. 1-6, with a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. A total of 695 of those surveyed were white, while 145 were Hispanic and 95 were Black.