7 in 10 agree Chauvin was guilty in poll conducted after verdict

A majority of Americans on Tuesday said they agreed with the guilty verdict in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd, according to a USA Today-Ipsos poll. 

The online survey, which questioned 1,000 U.S. adults in the three hours following the verdict announcement, found that about 71 percent believed Chauvin was guilty, with just 12 percent rejecting Tuesday’s verdict. 

About 62 percent of those who accepted the verdict said they did not plan on participating in any further marches or protests related to the case, while 16 percent said they still planned to join rallies and demonstrations. 

Most Americans in the poll said they followed at least some portion of the three-week trial, which concluded with just 10 hours of deliberation from the jury. 

The jury found Chauvin, who was captured in graphic video footage last year kneeling on Floyd’s neck for roughly nine minutes, guilty of all three of the criminal counts he faced — second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. 

The former cop was immediately taken into custody with his bail revoked, and later Tuesday was transferred to the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Oak Park Heights.

Cities across the country from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., had mobilized police forces in preparation for civil unrest that many expected would have come following an acquittal. 

Instead, cities erupted in celebration following the verdict, especially in Minneapolis, where a large crowd gathered outside Cup Foods, the convenience store where Chauvin’s fatal encounter with Floyd took place. 

Video posted on social media showed members of Floyd’s family shouting in joy as each of the three guilty verdicts were read Tuesday, with one young woman exclaiming, “Yes! This is what we wanted!”

Ben Crump, the attorney representing Floyd’s family, shared a video on Twitter of President Biden and Vice President Harris calling the family soon after the verdict.

The president in the call can be heard saying, “Nothing is gonna make it all better, but at least now there’s some justice,” and Harris called Tuesday “a day of justice in America.” 

Meanwhile, lawmakers and racial justice advocates alike have said that the verdict is just a start for addressing police brutality and systemic racism in the U.S. justice system, especially amid ongoing calls for accountability in a wave of fatal police shootings, including of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minn., and 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio, who was shot and killed by police just minutes before the Chauvin verdict was announced. 

The USA Today-Ipsos poll reported a credibility interval of 3.5 percentage points.