President Barack Obama's hometown is America's worst nightmare — perceived by the public as the nation's most dangerous big city, new research finds.
The
latest research from YouGov shows that the public sees America's three largest cities as its most dangerous as well, with 53 percent viewing Chicago, the third most-populous U.S. metro area, as "unsafe," while only 33 percent view it as "safe."
New York City is seen as the second most dangerous big city, followed by Los Angeles.
Texas' two largest cities, Dallas and Houston, are seen as being safest, the research finds.
The safety factor doesn't seem to be affected by whether people visited the city in question — except for New York City, the research found.
Forty-nine percent of those who've visited the Big Apple tend to say it's "safe" while 46 percent of visitors perceive it as "unsafe." On the other hand, 58 percent of those who've never visited New York viewed it as "unsafe," while 30 percent saw it as "safe."
Crime has dropped across the country, but that hasn't registered with the public,
research reported by The Economist shows.
Despite the fact that over the
last 20 years the national murder rated was halved, 50 percent of the country believe violent crime has increased; only 22 percent know it's decreased, the research found.