PUBLIC REACTION TO POLITICAL PROTEST: CHICAGO 1968

Abstract

Despite press and television coverage largely sympathetic to antiwar demonstrators who clashed with Chicago police on August 28, 1968, public opinion remained overwhelmingly unsympathetic. Here, John P. Robinson examines two main questions: Who comprised the minority sympathetic to the demonstrators? How did attitudes toward the protesters and the police affect presidential voting behavior in November 1968, particularly among Democrats and Independents, whose voting behavior was most likely to be affected by the events in Chicago?