Three new polls find a broad partisan divide over whether the federal government should be involved in fighting crime in US cities, even as a large share of Americans say they see crime in urban areas as a major problem.
Just 36% of Americans support “federal officials bringing the Washington, DC local police under federal control citing a public safety emergency,” a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday found, while 38% support “deploying National Guard troops from other states to Washington, DC, for law enforcement efforts.”
On both measures, Republicans are the strongest backers of the move with 76% of Republicans supporting National Guard deployments in DC and 71% supporting federal control of DC’s local police. Only 8% of Democrats favor either action.
A Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters nationwide finds a similar dynamic. Overall, 56% say they oppose “President Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to Washington, DC in an effort to reduce crime,” with 41% in support of it. Nearly 9 in 10 Republicans support the president’s decision (86%), compared with just 34% of independents and 5% of Democrats.
Considering federal government involvement in policing large cities more generally, an AP-NORC poll released Wednesday finds that a majority view it as acceptable for the government to “use the US military and National Guard to assist local police.”
Around 55% view that as at least somewhat acceptable, including just 26% who say it is “completely acceptable,” while 37% say it is somewhat or completely unacceptable.
Yet most see it as unacceptable for the federal government to “take control of local police departments,” with 55% seeing it as very or somewhat unacceptable and 32% at least somewhat acceptable. Here too, GOP support far outweighs independent or Democratic backing for these moves.
On bringing in the military and National Guard, 82% of Republicans view that as acceptable, compared with 46% of independents and 30% of Democrats, and on a takeover of local police forces, 51% of Republicans call that acceptable compared to 26% of independents and 15% of Democrats.
The AP-NORC poll also finds widespread concern about crime in the US. A broad majority of Americans (81%) say that crime is a major problem in large cities, with 66% seeing it as a major problem for the country overall. Far fewer say the same about their own community (24%) or small towns or rural areas (20%).
These polls and others suggest Trump’s actions in DC have had little effect thus far on his overall approval rating.
Across six polls of adults conducted in August, largely after federal agents began patrolling the streets of Washington, Trump’s approval rating stands at an average of 41% approve to 56% disapprove in the latest CNN Poll of Polls, which is roughly the same as it’s been all summer.
On his handling of crime specifically, recent polls vary, with the Reuters/Ipsos poll and a new Strength in Numbers/Verasight poll both finding approval ratings well below 50% on that topic – 43% approve of his handling of crime in the Reuters/Ipsos poll, 45% on “crime and public safety” in the Strength in Numbers/Verasight poll. Among registered voters in the Quinnipiac poll, 42% say they approve of Trump’s handling of the issue. But the AP-NORC poll finds public reaction to Trump’s handling of crime in positive territory, with 53% approving and 45% disapproving on crime.
Across all four, though, the president’s handling of crime rates as one of his strongest issue approval ratings.
The AP-NORC poll was conducted August 21 to 25 among a random nationwide sample of 1,182 adults with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points; the Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted August 22 to 24 among 1,022 adults with an error margin of plus or minus 3.0 points; and the Strength in Numbers/Verasight poll was conducted August 18 to 21 among 1,500 adults with an error margin of plus or minus 2.6 points. All three polls were conducted online. The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted by telephone from August 21 through 25 among 1,220 registered voters and has an error margin of plus or minus 3.4 points.
This story has been updated with additional details.
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