Rasmussen Pole: Do most think crimes getting worse, which party do they favor to fix? Blacks/Whites

James Carville famously said "it's the economy stupid" in 1992, Today he might say "it's crime stupid".

Crime: 68% Of Voters Say It’s Getting Worse

Wednesday, December 15, 2021

An overwhelming majority of voters are increasingly concerned about violent crime and, by a wide margin, they trust Republicans more than Democrats to deal with the problem.

A new national telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports finds that 89% of Likely U.S. voters are concerned about the problem of violent crime in America, including 64% who say they’re Very Concerned. That’s a significant increase from July, when 79% were concerned, including 49% who were Very Concerned, about the violent crime problem. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Sixty-eight percent (68%) of voters now say the problem of violent crime in America is getting worse. Only eight percent (8%) think the crime problem is getting better, while 22% believe violent crime is staying about the same.

Asked who they trust more to deal with the problem of violent crime, 49% of voters say Republicans, compared to 27% who trust Democrats more. Twenty-one percent (21%) of voters think the two parties are about the same in dealing with violent crime.

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The survey of 1,000 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on December 13-14, 2021 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

As might be expected, when it comes to dealing with violent crime, most Democrats (61%) trust Democrats more and most Republicans (83%) trust Republicans more. The most significant gap is among independents, where 49% of voters not affiliated with either major party say they trust Republicans more to deal with the problem of violent crime, compared to just 15% who trust Democrats more.

There appears to be very little support for the “defund the police” movement that made headlines last year after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Fifty-five percent (55%) of voters believe America needs to spend more on police, while just 14% favor spending less on police. Another 25% of voters think the current amount of spending on police is about right.

However, only 38% of Democratic voters think America needs to spend more police, compared to 74% of Republicans and 55% of unaffiliated voters.

Nevertheless, strong majorities of all partisan categories – 71% of Republicans, 61% of Democrats and 60% of unaffiliated voters – say they’re Very Concerned about violent crime. But fewer Democrats (55%) than Republicans (78%) or unaffiliated voters (71%) believe violent crime in America is getting worse.

There is not much difference in racial groups in terms of concern about violent crime, as 62% of whites, 63% of black voters and 69% of other minorities say they’re Very Concerned about the crime problem in America. However, fewer black voters (43%) than whites (58%) or other minorities (55%) support spending more on police.

A majority of black voters (53%) trust Democrats more to deal with the problem of violent crime, but only 23% of whites and 26% of other minorities share that opinion.

Women (69%) are more likely than men (59%) to say they’re Very Concerned about the problem of violent crime in America. More men (53%) than women (45%) trust Republicans more to deal with the crime problem.

Voters 65 and older are most concerned about the problem of violent crime in America.

Voters with annual incomes of $200,000 or more are less likely to say they are Very Concerned about violent crime and also less likely to believe America needs to spend more on police.

President Joe Biden’s strongest supporters are least likely to favor spending more on police. Among voters who Strongly Approve of Biden’s job performance as president, 34% think America needs to spend more on police, while among those who Strongly Disapprove of Biden’s performance, 80% favor spending more on police.