Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the ideological gaps on police use of force. 

Design/methodology/approach – In a national-level survey distributed via Mechanical Turk (MTurk) (n 5 979), the authors explore the role that respondents’ political ideology plays in the approval of police use of force across a range of scenarios.

Findings – Across all scenarios, self-identified conservative respondents maintain strong approval of police use of force. In comparison, liberal respondents provide more variance in their views on approval of police use of force based on the scenario. The scenarios where there are small gaps in approval between the two ideologies are when reasonable force is used toward a violent threat.

Social implications – There are specific circumstances where the messaging surrounding use of force can create agreement (reasonable) or disagreement (excessive) among conservatives and liberals. 

Originality/value – Conservatives and liberals demonstrate gaps across an even larger set of use of force scenarios.