While Democratic governors insist that crime in their major cities is under control, a vast majority of Americans view lawlessness in places like New York and Chicago as a serious issue, a new poll suggests.
The majority of U.S. adults — 81 percent — believe crime in large cities is a “major problem,” according to a new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Donald Trump campaigned on reducing crime across the country during his run to a second term in the White House, with his administration’s tactics igniting controversy.
Since he’s returned to the White House, Trump has deployed National Guard troops in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C, to major opposition from local officials.
He has also suggested he could expand his crime crackdown to other major cities, including New York, Chicago, and Baltimore.
“You look at Chicago, how bad it is. You look at Los Angeles, how bad it is,” Trump said Monday. “We have other cities that are very bad. New York has a problem. And then you have, of course, Baltimore and Oakland.
Roughly half — 53 percent — of poll respondents say they approve of Trump’s handling of crime. However, the governors of California and Illinois have slammed Trump’s militaristic approach as unnecessary and unjustified.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker condemned the president’s plans as “authoritarian” at a press conference on Monday.
“Mr. President, do not come to Chicago. You are neither wanted here nor needed here,” Pritzker said, noting that crime rates have dropped in the Windy City. Compared to last year, murder rates have dropped 32 percent and shootings have plummeted 37 percent, the Illinois governor said.
“Calling the military into a U.S. city to invade our streets and neighborhoods and disrupt the lives of everyday people is an extraordinary action, and it should require extraordinary justification,” he said. Pritzker accused Trump of deploying troops as “pawns” in his “ever-more alarming grabs for power.”
In June, the president deployed thousands of National Guard members to Los Angeles as protests erupted over Trump’s immigration raids. After Trump federalized the state’s National Guard, California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom sued the Trump administration, accusing it of an “unprecedented usurpation of state authority and resources.”
In response to the president’s latest threat, the California Democrat said this week in a social media post: “Trump’s militarization of Los Angeles seems to have been just the start of an authoritarian takeover of American cities.”
“This is not leadership. This is a scary, unlawful grab for power, and we should all be deeply concerned,” Newsom said. Last year, the state’s violent crime rate decreased 6 percent from the year prior, while the homicide rate was the second lowest since at least 1966.
New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday revealed that she spoke to the president about the city’s crime data, emphasizing there’s no need for the National Guard to come to the Big Apple.
“He’s just trying to throw gasoline on a fire, we don’t need that, we got our own fires under control here, we do not need the federal government telling us what to do,” Hochul said at a press conference.
Earlier this month, Trump declared a “crime emergency” in the nation’s capital and put the city under federal control, federalizing the local police, arming National Guard members, and calling for those who commit murder in the city to face the death penalty. Washington, D.C., has seen a 30-year low in violent crime.
In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, the president announced he’s working with Republican leaders on a “comprehensive crime bill.” He didn’t share the details of the legislation.
“It’s what our Country need, and NOW! More to follow,” he wrote on Truth Social.
The FBI said earlier this month that the country saw a 4.5 percent decrease in violent crime last year compared to the year before.
