Voters increasingly are trusting Republicans more than Democrats to handle crime.
According to a new Rasmussen Reports poll, 53% of voters trust Republicans more than Democrats to handle crime and law enforcement issues, while only 35% have more trust in Democrats.
That's an increase of six points from a Rasmussen poll in February, in which Republicans led Democrats 48% to 36%.
That poll found a majority of Americans say they believe crime is getting worse. Nearly twice as many Republicans (81%) as Democrats (42%) say violent crime is worsening, with 62% of unaffiliated voters saying it is getting worse.
By nearly a 5-to-1 margin, more voters overall say violent crime in America is getting worse (61%) than getting better (13%), while 24% said the crime problem is staying about the same, Rasmussen found.
Among Republicans, 66% say the issue will be very important in the presidential election, as do 41% of Democrats and 44% of unaffiliated voters.
A majority of voters in another Rasmussen survey said they believed shoplifting was a serious problem.
Crime in the U.S. has declined significantly over the past year, according to new FBI data that contradicts a widespread national perception that law-breaking and violence are on the rise, NBC News reported.
The FBI data, which compares crime rates in the third quarter of 2023 to the same period the year before, found that violent crime dropped 8%, while property crime fell 6.3% to what would be its lowest level since 1961, NBC reported.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.