Old North News

With crime on the rise in North Carolina and across the nation, and "Defund the Police" movements still present, more Americans are  reportedly more concerned about crime than at any other time during the 21st century.

According to poll results, this topic is not just a worry among right-wing voters, but among left-wing voters too. The recall of district attorney Chesa Boudin is said to be the latest sign that crime is a potent issue in municipal elections.

"Crime is one of the few issues where public opinion has tilted toward the conservative position in the country as a whole," CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten said. "Registered voters, by a 16-point margin (50% to 34%), said they trusted the Republican Party more on crime than the Democratic Party."

According to a CNN analysis story, a Gallup poll from earlier this year found that as a whole, Americans' dissatisfaction with the nation's policies to reduce or control crime is at the highest rate ever in the 21st century.

The Gallup poll results revealed 72% of Americans were dissatisfied with the nation's policies to reduce or control crime. CNN reports that number is up from 65% in 2021 and 49% in 2020. Even more astounding, "the dissatisfaction crosses partisan lines," as 65% of Democrats indicated they were at least somewhat dissatisfied with the nation's policies on crime and 87% of Republicans expressed dissatisfaction, the network reported.

A late-April ABC News/Washington Post poll also revealed dissatisfaction about crime from both parties. According to CNN, it was the only non-economic issue polled in which Republicans held an advantage outside the margin of error.

While violent crime is up in some places, Enten makes the argument that it is lower-level nonviolent crimes such as theft which have been inclined to happen much more frequently, contributing to a common feeling that things have gotten out of control. In some of the nation's largest cities, such as San Fransisco, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, all categories of theft are up from last year.

The successful recall of Boudin of San Francisco proved that "not even in the Democratic bastion of San Francisco is a progressive safe from the wrath of voters worried about crime," Enten said.

After serving San Francisco for a little over two years, Boudin, a Democrat, was recalled by 60% of voters in the west coast major city on June 7, AP reported.

In 2020, North Carolina's violent crime rate of 419 incidents for every 100,000 people was higher than that of most other states, The Center Square reported. Seventy-five percent of the 44,451 violent offenses reported in the state during that year were aggravated assault cases, the story said. Rising by 35% year-over-year, the number of murders reported in North Carolina in 2020 totaled 852 – more than in New York, a state with nearly twice as many residents.

In Charlotte, police reports indicate homicides, aggravated assaults and violent crime, in general, were up in March 2022, compared with the same time last year, Fox 46 reported.