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October 29, 2024

Notable polling data on crime views on the eve of Election 2024

I just saw this intriguing new YouGov report with all sort of polling data on a range of crime issues. The piece is titled "Crime: What 2024 voters want and which candidate they trust" and is worth a full read (though none of the result strike me as too surpring). Here is how the piece gets started: 

During the 2024 presidential election campaign, YouGov asked registered voters their views on eight topics, including crime — the crime-related issues that matter most to them, the policies they support, and the candidates they trust. Among our findings:

  • The issue of crime is ranked highly among Trump's supporters — 45% say it's one of their three biggest issues — but is far less likely to be prioritized by voters supporting Harris, only 19% of whom say it's a top-three issue.
  • The crime-related issue that voters are most likely to emphasize is gun policy. Gun policy is by far the top issue for supporters of Harris, followed by racial disparities in criminal justice. Trump's voters place the most priority on police funding and criminal sentencing, though a large share also cares about guns.
  • Trump is somewhat preferred to Harris on the handling of crime overall, but trust on specific crime-related issues varies. Harris is more trusted than Trump for handling racial disparities in criminal justice, white collar crime, and marijuana laws. Trump leads Harris in trust on handling police funding and criminal sentencing. Voters are closely divided on who they trust more to handle gun policy, policing practices, and privacy rights.
  • Harris' crime policies are, on average, more popular than Trump's. Majorities of voters favor Harris-backed proposals for universal background checks for gun purchases and reentry programs for former prisoners. Trump's proposal to impose mandatory minimum sentences for violent crimes also is supported by a large majority of voters, including by most of his supporters and Harris'. Two of his plans each get far less support, including from less than half of his own supporters: giving qualified immunity to police officers and allowing the death penalty for drug dealers.
  • Voters are largely able to correctly identify Harris' policies regarding guns. Most voters also know that Trump wants to pardon participants in the January 6th attack and to send troops into cities to enforce order. Fewer than half of voters — including just 37% of his own supporters — know about Trump's support for allowing the death penalty to be imposed on drug dealers.

October 29, 2024 at 11:15 AM | Permalink

Comments

Some of these poll questions are dumb. Yes, I support reintegration etc., but I also recognize that it's not easy and that shortening sentences on the hope that there will be re-integration is a fool's errand.

Posted by: federalist | Oct 29, 2024 1:17:01 PM

What additional qualified immunity is Trump proposing to give to police officers?

Posted by: Respondent | Oct 29, 2024 3:05:09 PM

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/10/ricky-chesa-george-and-kamala.php

This is why these poll questions are essentially worthless. It all comes down to trust---you cannot trust Harris. She is a soft-on-crime California liberal. People were executed under Trump. 'nuff said.

Posted by: federalist | Oct 29, 2024 4:54:25 PM

If Trump truly plans to work on qualified immunity, he is going in the wrong direction. It should be scaled back, as it is used to keep too many bad cops.

Not to mention, work on transparency. Universal release of body/car cam footage and police reports, make muting or destroying camera evidence a criminal act, have the body cam running the entire shift, no personal phone usage during shift with all calls and texts recorded, etc.

Posted by: TarlsQtr | Oct 29, 2024 5:22:46 PM

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