Support for racial justice protests: virtue signaling?

A new Gallup poll says two-thirds of Americans support the racial justice protests. A slight majority of all Americans said they have had their views changed. (That's good news IF they needed changing, but sad news THAT they did.) Almost three-quarters of Asian-Americans said this, perhaps influenced by Trump and other white wingnuts talking about "Kung flu" and other stupidities. "Only 36 percent" of Republicans said they had their minds changed either a lot (14%) or little (22%), also glass half full/half empty news. Asians have participated in protests as much as Blacks, while Hispanics have only participated a little more than Whites.

On the other hand, per Atlantic, a lot of this self-confessed mind-changing may be some mix of social conformity and virtue signaling. Jennifer Richeson says the thought that we're continuing to move forward is like riding a "Whiggish elevator." White non-wingnuts get to feel good about themselves, while Blacks in the protest get some new theoretical bit of hope to grasp. In turn, maybe that's part of why Hispanics haven't jumped in more.

I'm not saying it's all guaranteed to be virtue signaling about America, the land of progress, or naivete on similar grounds. Let's hope a fair chunk is real. And that the support is based on hope that turns out to be real.