The Highest Income People and Those Who Went to Graduate School are the Least Concerned About Crime

By a 4.7-to-1 margin, more likely voters say violent crime in the United States is getting worse (61%) than getting better (13%). Eighty-one percent (81%) of likely voters say the issue of crime will be important in this November’s presidential election, and of that 48% think the violent crime issue to be Very Important.

But the well-to-do, highly educated, liberals, and Democrats are the least concerned about violent crime getting worse. For example, while 72% of those who make less than $30,000 per year, only 43% of those who make over $200,000 feel the same way. Similarly, while 68% of those with a high school degree and 69% of those with some college are concerned about rising violent crime, only 48% of those who went to graduate school felt the same way.

The irony is that other reliably Democrat groups are concerned about violent crime. For example, women are even more concerned than men (64%-to-59%) and blacks are concerned though not quite as concerned as whites (56% to 63%).

Not too surprisingly, those who are least concerned about violent crime are the most likely to think that the Democrats are more trusted to handle crime and law enforcement issues. Those who make less than $30,000 favor Republicans by 15 percentage points (47% to 32%) , but those who make over $200,000 favor Democrats by nine percentage points (50% to 41%). For education, those with a high school degree favor Republicans by nine percentage points (46% to 37%), but those with a graduate school education favored Democrats by 23 percentage points (55% to 32%).