A new poll has found that a majority of Americans point the finger at “woke politicians” when placing blame for the recent spike in crime across the country.
The poll, conducted by Harvard-Harris, found that 64% of Americans agreed with the sentiment, including 52% of Democrats, 75% of Republicans, and 60% of independents.
Respondents were given two choices by the pollsters when giving their reasoning for why they think there has been a spike in crime. Options were, “woke politicians” or “other factors,” and most chose 'politicians' despite there being numerous possibilities listed for 'other factors.'
The poll also found that Americans aren’t very hopeful when it comes to the future of crime, as 66% of respondents said it is rising, while only 11% said they think it is declining.
Americans also shared in the poll that they had favorable views of the police and military.
A recent report from ABC News says that the “defund the police” rhetoric, repeated by law enforcement and politicians as a reason for rising crime, doesn’t stand as a majority of cities have increased their spending on policing, including in crime hotspots like Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco.
Budgets for more than 100 cities and counties were examined for the report, which says that 83% of them spent at least 2% more on police in 2022 than in 2019. Of the 109 budgets used for the report, only eight agencies were found to have cut police funds by more than 2%.
On the flip side, 91 budgets showed law enforcement funding go up by at least 2%, and 49 cities or countries saw funding rise by more than 10%.
Nonetheless, the poll shows that Americans feel the words of politicians, and their laws, have caused the recent spike in crime, suggesting that public safety could be a significant issue when deciding who to vote for in November.
The poll was conducted between Oct. 12 and 13 and included 2,010 registered voters.
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