A small majority of Torontonians support the Black Lives Matter movement, according to a new poll by Forum Research.

A poll of 858 Toronto respondents found 55 per cent support the movement, which is pushing for increased police accountability and rallying against systemic anti-black racism. Three in 10 support the movement “very strongly,” the poll found.

“It now provides evidence that support for the movement is broad-based,” said Forum president Lorne Bozinoff. “It’s not just a vocal minority; it is a substantial proportion of the city that supports the movement.”

Though the group has been active in the city since 2014, it has gained attention in the past month after staging a 15-day sit-in outside Toronto police headquarters sparked by the SIU decision to not lay charges in the police shooting death of Andrew Loku.

Forum conducted the poll in light of the recent attention, Bozinoff said.

Respondents were also asked if they agree or disagree there is systemic racism in Toronto. On that question, results resembled the numbers in support of the movement.

Half of all respondents agreed that systemic racism exists, at 50 per cent, while 29 per cent disagree and 20 per cent responded “don’t know.”

Though responses were fairly consistent when broken out across the former municipalities, Bozinoff called the disparity between age groups a “startling” contrast, but added it is a “classic example” of the shifting attitudes on social issues.

“Basically the younger you are, the more support you have for the movement. The less you have the older you get,” he said.

Sixty-two per cent of 18- to 34-year-olds support or strongly support the movement, compared with 47 per cent of respondents 65 or older.

“Social movements, social attitudes, change usually starts among younger people, and this is similar to that,” he said.

The poll was conducted April 12 by an interactive voice response telephone survey of randomly selected voters in Toronto. Results are considered accurate within plus or minus 3 per cent, 19 times out of 20. The results for subsamples, such as region and age, will be less accurate.