Despite former President Donald Trump frequently maintaining a lead on the issue of policing and crime, a new Redfield & Wilton Strategies/Newsweek poll found that a larger share of U.S. adults trust Vice President Kamala Harris on the issue.
According to the survey, 43% of respondents said they trusted Harris more on policing and crime, compared to 40% who said they trusted Trump more. Another 6% said they trusted "both equally" to handle crime and 6% said they trusted neither on the issue.
The latest polling is a departure from an Aug. 7 Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey that showed Trump at 43% support on the issue versus Harris' 42%.
A Pew Research Center poll from late August-early September reveals that crime is top of mind for many in deciding which candidate gets their vote. In that survey, 61% of registered voters said the issue of violent crime was "very important" in their decision-making.
Fifty-four percent of respondents in a September YouGov poll said Trump would handle policing "very" or "somewhat well" if he returned to the White House, compared to 46% who said the same for Harris, while an August Reuters/Ipsos survey showed Trump and Harris tied at 40% on the issue of crime and corruption. Trump had previously held a five-point lead in the latter poll.
With a "tough on crime" approach, Trump has been endorsed by several police unions and the National Border Patrol Council. The former president recently reassured a North Carolina crowd on the issue of crime, saying, "When I'm president of the United States, we're not going to take it anymore."
During a late August visit to the Livingston County Sheriff's Office in a community northwest of Detroit, Trump reportedly called Harris a "pro-crime" police "defunder," as well as a "Marxist prosecutor."
For her part, Harris has touted her record as a prosecutor, district attorney, and attorney general of California, saying she has spent her career trying to bring "predators," "fraudsters," and "cheaters" to justice.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said in September that more than 13,000 illegal immigrants convicted of murder, either in the U.S. or elsewhere, are currently living freely in the United States.
"Some jurisdictions have reduced their cooperation with ICE, to include refusal to honor ICE detainer requests, even for noncitizens who have been convicted of serious felonies and pose an ongoing threat to public safety," acting ICE Director P.J. Lechleitner wrote in a letter dated Sept. 25 to Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas.
The Redfield & Wilton Strategies/Newsweek poll was conducted Sept. 28-29 and surveyed 2,000 U.S. adults. It has a margin of error of 2.19 percentage points.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.