Great Lakes Wire

An April Gallop survey showed that for the first time since 2016, a small majority of Americans said they worry a “great deal” about crime in the country.

Jennifer Rubin, a Washington Post opinion columnist, noted that the survey results showed the worry over crime is not isolated among white Republicans, which means the Biden administration must take the unfortunate opinion of voters seriously.

"While overall crime has not reached levels seen in the 1980s and ’90s, the homicide rate has been increasing in recent years,” Rubin said in an April Washington Post opinion piece. "Whatever the relative crime rate, voters see the current rate as unacceptable. And it is not only White Republicans who worry. A recent Pew Research Center poll showed that among Black voters, 17 percent identified crime or violence as their top issue.”

The Gallup survey showed that 53% of Americans worry a "great deal" about crime in the country, and 27% said they worry a "fair amount." The issue of crime nears the top of the list of 14 national concerns, with inflation and the economy the most significant issues for voters.

While crime rates have not hit the historical highs of the 1980s and 1990s, there is a measurable uptick of opinions about crime. The Gallop survey showed that 51% of Americans said there is more crime in their local area, which is up from 38% in 2020. A November Gallop report said that 2009 was the last time a majority of Americans perceived crime rates as being up in their area, and 1992 was the last time it exceeded 51% (being 54% at that time).

Rubin accused President Joe Biden and other Democrats of treating crime as a gun-only issue, which leads some voters to conclude that the left doesn’t care about crime as an issue beyond guns. She criticized Biden's actions as too narrowly focused on "gun restrictions," which is evidenced by his recent executive order to stop the proliferation of ghost guns. Rubin noted that it is in Biden's best interests to "announce new efforts that focus on violent crime in particular" or convene "a White House summit on crime."

An April ABC-Ipsos poll showed that a minority of voters (38%) approve of the president’s handling of crime, a recent Politico report said. Biden’s new ghost gun laws are "an attempt by Biden to regain his footing on a political front that is currently bedeviling him and Democrats."

The Administration’s ghost gun rule "requires new background checks and serial numbers" in order to purchase, Politico said. Currently, ghost guns lack serial numbers and can be purchased without a background check.

A June Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted over two days across the country found that 52% of Americans disapprove of Biden's job performance.

2020 marked a recent highwater mark for violent crime in Michigan with 478 such incidents for every 100,00 people in the state, an October report from The Center Square said. That ranked Michigan 10th highest on the nationwide list and third highest in the Midwest. The rate of violent crime in the state climbed to 9.3% between 2019 and 2020, which was nearly double the increase across the country. Violent crime tends to be concentrated in cities like Detroit, where 1,088 violent crimes occurred for every 100,000 residents in 2020, which accounted for nearly 40% of Michigan’s violent crimes that year.