Only 36% of Americans now believe that George Floyd was murdered

White and Black Americans are divided over George Floyd's death and whether race relations have improved

When asked about Floyd's death, 64% of Black people described it as a murder, according to the poll. Among White respondents, 28% described it as murder and 33% said "it was negligence on part of the officer."

USA Today/Ipsos conducted a similar poll in June as protests condemning police brutality took place across the United States. Last year, 60% of all respondents described Floyd's death as murder. That number dropped to 36% in the latest poll.

It's alarming that we actually have a racial division regarding something that should be fairly factual in terms of how we define it. But while it is alarming, it is not surprising. I cannot stress enough that in the modern 2021 world the concept of basic facts are not what they used to be. Society now allows people to pick and choose which "facts" to believe and which "facts" to discount, almost without judgement. But if there was a place in our society where facts need to be treated like traditional facts it should be in the courtroom, where we have an several amendments in the bill of rights specific to making sure accused are granted a fair trial. But how can a trial be "fair" if we allow different people to make their own determinations as to what is "fact". 

Technically the jury is who determines fact in any trial. So there is always been a degree of subjectivity to a proceeding. But there are always portions of any trial where factual evidence should be taken as fact and not opinion. There should also be portions of any trial where opinion should be taken as opinion and not fact. 

I suspect that as the traditional facts of the case against Derek Chauvin become more public and more mainstreamed, that the results of the next poll will show even less Americans believing Chauvin committed murder. There should also be a smaller percent of the public who even claim that the death was due to negligence. All factual evidence that we know about (and that the general public will be eventually exposed to) will show no physical or medical evidence that George Floyd died of anything other than an opioid overdose from likely digesting large amounts of Fentanyl to avoid having it found by the police.

While some (like the prosecution) will continue to argue that Chauvin (or the other officers) should be found guilty because he didn't do enough to prevent the overdose from killing Floyd, that puts just another burden on police to do what they are not trained to do. It's a question if even the best of medical personnel would have been able to save George Floyd from death in this situation. That assumes medical schooling, medical experience, and medical expertise that police officers just do not have. To convict someone of murder because they lacked the skill necessary to save someone from a drug overdose stretches the limits of public responsibility well beyond any reasonable limit.