Chicago Latinos Disapprove Mayor Rahm Emanuel, But Approve of Police Department
A new study reveals that a mass majority of Latinos living in Chicago approve of the city's police department, but strongly disapprove of Mayor Rahm Emanuel in wake of public outrage over the police shooting Laquan McDonald.
Emanuel has faced severe scrutiny over the way cops and city officials handled McDonald's death after video footage was released last month showing the 17-year-old African American walking away from cops when he was fatally shot by a white officer in October 2014.
Overall, Emanuel received a 56 percent disapproval rating from Chicagoans, while 67 percent of Hispanics disapproved of his job performance, according to the Aldertrack/DNAinfo/WGN Radio poll conducted on Tuesday.
Most black voters in Chicago also disapprove of the embattled mayor by 53 percent, while 56 percent of white voters in the city said they disapprove of his job performance.
On the other hand, the data, which was compiled by Public Policy Polling, also shows that only 27 percent of Hispanic voters disapprove of the Chicago Police Department, while 70 percent approve. In comparison, 62 percent of black Chicago voters disapprove of the city police department and just 34 percent approve. Meanwhile, white voters were almost split down the middle when asked about their feelings towards the police: 49 percent disapprove and 50 percent approve.
According to Alderman Ricardo Munoz, the disconnect between how the Latino community rates the mayor compared to the police department comes as no surprise being that Latinos are more trusting of cops.
"The communities we live in are working class communities that depend on the cops,” said Munoz, according to DNAinfo Chicago. “People don't want the thugs on the corner or dealers running open drug markets and they depend on the police to keep them safe.”
Likewise, Alderman George Cardenas, a member of the city's Latino Caucus, said Hispanic communities have a different type of relationship with the police than African-American communities.
"Hispanics are very conservative when it comes to law enforcement," Cardenas said. "When it comes to gun violence the relationship with the police has been different. … The relationship with police is more tense in African American communities where there’s more conflict."
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