Does the U.S. hate cops? Despite media claims, Gallup poll reveals this is not true

In the wake of the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, a very vocal portion of the U.S. population has risen up to condemned the assorted police and law enforcement agencies within the United States. They call these men and women, who put their lives on the line everyday to ensure there is safety and peace, racists and criminals.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The way most media outlets are covering this vocal group, you could be forgiven for thinking that the majority of Americans feel this way; that the traditional view of officers of the law as protectors has died, that they are agents of terror and oppression.

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You'd be wrong.

The Gallup has conducted numerous national surveys since the 1970s on the views that Americans hold of police officers. Consistently, Americans have shown that they felt that police officers have higher honesty and ethical standards than of elected officeholders in the local, state and federal levels-regardless of whether that person is a county judge, a state governor or even a member of Congress.

"Please tell me how you would rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in these different fields-very high, high, average, low, or very low?" The Gallup surveys ask.

At no time have elected officials ever been trusted more than police officers.

In fact, those who think that the honesty and ethical standards of the police are "high" or "very high" has never dropped below 37%, which was the lowest at that level in 1977-the first year Gallup asked the question.

In contrast, elected officials never have even reached that 37% in those same categories combined.

The highest any of these groups ever reached? In 2000, state governors reached 31% in the "high" and "very high" categories, combined.

Once again Gallup conducted this survey, releasing it on Dec. 18, 2014, but this time it just asked about police officers and members of Congress.

This time, 48% of the 800 Americans polled said that they felt that police officers had "high" or "very high" honesty or ethical standards.

In these same categories, Congress didn't even break 10%. Combined they mustered a sad and laughable 7%.

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