Almost half of Americans disapprove of how President Joe Biden is handling crime in the United States, but are almost evenly divided on which party they trust to handle crime, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.
The poll, conducted from June 27-30 of a random national sample of 907 adults, revealed that 48% disapprove of how Biden handles crime, with 38% approving, ABC News reported Friday.
The results concerning Biden were sharply divided among political lines, with 6% of Republicans and 35% of independents approving of Biden's work on crime, while 74% of Democrats approved.
Out of those polled, 30% were Democrats, 24% Republicans, and 37% independents, and respondents indicated that those seeing crime as an extremely serious problem is now at a more than 20-year high level.
In other numbers:
- 36% said they trust Republicans more on handling crime, compared to 35% who trust Democrats.
- 20% said they don't trust either party on crime.
- 81% of Democrats said stricter gun laws are needed to reduce violent crime, compared to 42% of independents and 13% of Republicans.
- 61% of Republicans said increased spending to enhance opportunity in poor areas would help reduce violent crime, as compared to 76% of independents and 90% of Democrats.
Meanwhile, the poll showed that Democrats are vulnerable in two areas when it comes to handling crime, with Republicans having an advantage of 43%-28% in the midwest and leading Democrats by 43% to 31% in suburban locations.
The poll also showed that overall, 75% of respondents said increased funding for economic opportunities for poor communities would reduce crime, and 65% said social workers to help the police could also help.
Most also think increasing funding for police departments, not reducing it, will help fight back against violent crime. Overall, 55% said they think increasing funding will help, while 51% said they favor more strict enforcement of current gun laws, and 46% said they favor more strict gun-control laws.
The poll also revealed differences between the races on their opinions on crime being a serious problem, with 13% of white people and 17% of Hispanic respondents saying crime is a serious issue compared to 31% of Black respondents.
In addition, 77% said some people in the United States experienced discrimination on the basis of their race or ethnicity with 75% of white and Hispanic people agreeing, compared to 86% of Black adults.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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