Minority Democrats Twice As Likely To Find Crime A Pressing Issue Than Their White Counterparts: POLL

Minority Democrats Twice As Likely To Find Crime A Pressing Issue Than Their White Counterparts: POLL

Erinn Broadus on March 3, 2023

Black and Hispanic Democrats are twice as likely as their white cohorts to view crime as a major problem, according to a new survey from Pew Research Center.

Nearly 66% of Black and 63% of Hispanic Democrats saw crime as a top priority, compared to 33% of white Democrats, the survey found. When factoring in both political parties, the split is similar: 64% of black and Hispanic people view crime as a top priority, compared to 53% of whites of both parties.

Strengthening the economy remains the top priority for both Democrats and Republicans, as it did last year, with 75% of pollsters acknowledging its importance. Republicans and Democrats differed by 16 percentage points on the importance of strengthening the economy, with 68% of Democrats indicating the economy as a top priority compared to 84% of Republicans.

Democrats divided on crime concerns. In Jan.:
Twice as many Black Democrats as White Democrats viewed reducing crime as a top policy priority.
59% of conservative & moderate Democrats said it was a top priority vs. 33% of liberal Democrats.https://t.co/mlFbAm2Oms pic. /J1tQCwZum8

— Carroll Doherty (@CarrollDoherty) March 2, 2023

Next is reducing health care costs and defending against terrorism, with 60%.

Dealing with the coronavirus epidemic has plummeted to the last issue on Americans’ minds, with only 26% of those surveyed indicating it was a top priority, despite it being a top priority in 2021 and 2022. 

Both parties have indicated that reducing the budget deficit is of heightened concern, and that concern nearly doubled for Democrats. In 2021, 29% of Democrats and 54% of Republicans said the deficit should be a top priority. By 2023, that increased to 44% of Democrats and 71% of Republicans.

The widest gaps in polling were on the issues of climate change and environmental protection, with a 47 percentage point gap between Republicans and Democrats on protecting the environment and a 46 percentage point gap on dealing with climate change. Republicans polled lower on those spectrums of importance than Democrats.

The survey interviewed over 5,000 adults from Jan. 18 to Jan. 23. The margin of error for the entire cohort of pollsters is plus or minus 1.7 percentage points, according to Pew.