The self-defense-based acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, who killed two and wounded one during a racial justice protest, is backed by a 43-to-39 percent margin, according to a Morning Consult poll
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd November, 2021) The self-defense-based acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, who killed two and wounded one during a racial justice protest, is backed by a 43-to-39 percent margin, according to a Morning Consult poll.
Support for Rittenhouse's acquittal is largely driven by whether respondents believe the teen, then 17, was present at a protest to help protect the public or to provoke violence, a press release explaining the poll said.
"Those views fall largely along partisan lines with 59 percent of Republicans saying the former and 56 percent of Democrats saying the latter as well as racial lines, with Black Americans (57 percent) far more likely than White Americans (34 percent) to say Rittenhouse had malicious intent," the release said.
Among all adults, 43% said they approve of the verdict, 39% oppose and 18% said they either did not know or declined to offer an opinion, the release added.
A jury in the state of Wisconsin acquitted Rittenhouse of homicide charges in the August 2020 shooting deaths of two men and the wounding of a third with a semi-automatic rifle. The defendant claimed the shootings were in self-defense while the prosecution charged that the defendant responded to attacks that he had provoked.
The poll of 2,200 US adults was conducted November 19-21, according to the release.
