Americans gave President Joe Biden a poor rating regarding his handling of the ongoing crime surge in American cities in a July 2 poll.
An ABC News/Washington Post poll revealed that only 38% of Americans surveyed approve of Biden’s handling of the surge. Overall, 48% disapprove of the president’s job on crime.
The Biden administration has placed emphasis on stricter gun control efforts in order to combat the crime surge, announcing his plan to use a “comprehensive strategy” that intends to end the use of ghost guns and hold firearm dealers accountable for violating federal gun laws. The president has also announced a strategy to invest in community violence interventions. (RELATED: Biden’s Approval Rating Drops Below 50%)
In regards to solutions, 51% of Americans believe “stricter enforcement of current gun laws” will decrease crime rates and only 46% argue that “stricter gun control laws” will solve the problem, according to the poll. Out of the Democrats surveyed, 81% believe gun control will reduce the crime surge in contrast to 13% of Republicans that agree, the poll showed.
JUST IN: The number of Americans seeing crime as an extremely serious problem in the United States is at a more than 20-year high, President Joe Biden is underwater in trust to handle it, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll. https://t.co/YL0ShXtflQ
— ABC News (@ABC) July 2, 2021
Additionally, 75% of those surveyed believe “increasing funding for economic opportunities in poor areas” will reduce crime while 65% believe “using social workers to help police” will help to solve the crime surge, according to the poll.
Over the past year, major U.S. cities have recorded drastically higher numbers of homicides, shootings, and robberies than in previous years. The number of homicides have spiked by 18% across the country in comparison to 2020, particularly in Chicago that had a total of 317 homicides between Jan 1 and June 22, 2021.
New York City’s overall crime rate surged by 22% in the month of May compared to the same time last year, according to the New York Police Department (NYPD). Between October 20, 2020 and June 21, 2021, the percentage of Americans viewing crime as an “extremely serious” problem surged from slightly below 20% to 28%, the poll showed.
Out of those surveyed, 55% believe funding the police is the solution to combating crime, according to the poll. Cities that defunded their police departments suffered spikes in violent crime, including Minneapolis neighborhoods that saw a 36% increase in violent crime in 2020 and New York City’s murder rate increased by 39% that same year in comparison to 2019.
Additionally, the poll revealed that 36% of people surveyed trust Republicans over Democrats to handle the crime surge, while another 35% trust the Democratic party. One-fifth of Americans reportedly trust neither party to handle the increasing rates of crime.
The poll surveyed 907 adults on June 27-30 with a 3.5% margin of sampling error. The poll surveyed 30% registered Democrats, 24% of Republicans, and 37% of independents.