Associate Professors Graham Dixon and Lanier Holt recently published ‘Addressing public opinion misperceptions of racial disparities in the criminal justice system’ in Communication Research Reports. Dixon and Holt surveyed 800 White Americans to see how their beliefs about racial bias in policing affected their understanding of public opinion. 

Dixon and Holt found that White Americans who acknowledge racial bias in policing accurately perceive public opinion, while those who deny it significantly underestimate public awareness. Providing public opinion statistics increased awareness of racial biases among deniers, but only for those with strong American identity. This finding suggests that corrective interventions might be effective, but their impact is contingent on the target audience's pre-existing beliefs and national identity.