WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrat Eric McWilliams has not approved Donald Trump Sending National Guard troops to cities like Washington, D.C., he certainly doesn’t support most of the president’s policies.
But the 63-year-old retired handyman and US Navy veteran praise Trump for one thing. “When it comes to crime,” he said, “He’s fine. He’s doing pretty good. It’s another matter of what he’s doing.”
“Crime is a big problem,” he continued. “At least he’s doing something.”
McWilliams’ views reflect the thoughts of many Democrats. Recent polls from Associated Press-NORC Civil Service Research Center. While the majority of 68% view crime as a “major problem” in the metropolitan area, we see that while Trump is most disapproving about how he handles the issue, the majority of 68% view crime as a “major problem” in big cities. That’s despite the fact Statistics are shown Overall, crime is across the country, with some cities reporting 30-year lows.
The findings highlight the challenges faced by Democratic leaders. They must pass the needle while criticizing Trump’s policy that is not deeply popular among their bases, while not dismissing widespread safety concerns amplified in many news sources and online forums such as Facebook and the popular door app.
It could create vulnerability for the party heading for next year’s midterm elections.
Trump urges Democrats to engage in issues that have an advantage
Trump is generally unpopular, but a new poll finds his approach to crime He got a high mark compared to other issues Like the economy and immigration. Approximately half of US adults, 53%, say they approve of his crimes.
Most Americans81% view crime as a “major problem” in big cities. This includes nearly seven people, including almost all Republicans, about three-quarters of independents and 10 Democrats.
However, the problem is complicated. It’s also complicated for those involved. In the interview, participants opposed Trump’s unprecedented acquisition of the Washington, D.C. police department and the threat of expanding efforts to other cities have expressed alarms and called his actions part of an effort to divert the public from anti-Americans and issues the White House likes to ignore.
They believe resources will be spent on better costs to acquire guns from city streets, investing in community policing, mental health services and passing meaningful laws.
But many also lamented the state of public safety in the country, even if they felt safe in their neighborhoods and admitted that violent crime had declined after the pandemic-era spikes. Several people noted that they or their neighbors were victims of serious crimes and complained about how they felt there was a lack of response from the police.
Brian Cornelia, 62, is a retired foreman and lifelong Democrat who lives in Michigan near Marquette, and is dissatisfied with the performances of both parties.
“The police had it,” he said. “It’s the cards he’s doing now, and that’s nuts too.”
He said crime was “not at all” and it was a “full” issue where he lives, but he’s still grateful that Trump is doing something.
“There’s something going on. I’ll see if it helps, but it’s better than doing nothing,” he said. Either way, he said Trump has put Democrats back on the corner.
“That’s bad. How are you going to say you don’t want the crime to be dealt with?” he said. “If you argue with him, what, are you soft in crime? That’s Catch-22.”
Criticism of Trump’s tactics
Even those who give credit to Trump are questioning his tactics.
About eight in ten Democrats say it is “completely” or “somewhat” unacceptable for the president to take control of a local police station, as he did in Washington. And about six in ten people say it’s unacceptable for the federal government to use the US military and National Guard to support local police.
“I don’t recognize the military that has the authority over my fellow Americans,” said McWilliams, a Navy veteran. “You shouldn’t use our army to patrol our own people. It turns it into an authoritarian state.”
McWilliams, who lives in Whitehall, Pennsylvania, said he “doesn’t actually exist” in his neighborhood. However, he is worried about the situation around the nearby Allentown and across the country. A deadly mass shooting This week at Minneapolis Church.
“I’m glad he wants to fight crime. Well, no one else does that, so certainly not the mayor or the governor or the police department,” he said.
Others are far more skeptical.
“I think he’s just terrible,” said Carolyn Perry, 79, a lifelong Democrat and retired nurse who lives in Philadelphia, who saw Trump’s actions as an excuse to target democratic cities that opposed him.
“I think this National Guard he’s doing is ridiculous,” she said. “It’s almost like martial law, and now they’re walking around with their guns.”
Starkay, 59, a Democrat who lives in Downey, California, near Los Angeles, accused him of using Trump against residents after she said the Revolutionary War fought in part against her.
“Of course I live in a big city so I understand the concerns about crime,” she said. “But I don’t think an authoritarian playbook is the right way to fix them.”
If the president really wanted to tackle the issue, she argued that he would invest in the local police station, rather than diverting resources to immigration enforcement. She is looking at crackdowns as part of a broader effort to strengthen Republicans’ opportunities in next year’s midterm elections.
“He’s going to want to have an army on the streets to threaten people not to vote,” she said.
Democrats try to find their message
Part of the challenge for Democrats is that historically crime has not been the best problem for their foundations.
Gallup polling from April Only about a third of Democrats say they are “very” worried about crime and violence, finding they are more likely to worry about the economy, social security, the environment, hunger and the homeless.
Crime has traditionally been a strong issue for Republicans, including the 2024 election.
Democrats Last week we confirmed the gap At a National Party gathering in Minneapolis. In a presentation to members of the Democratic National Committee, the party strategist pointed out that Republicans spent about three times as much on crime-related ads as Democrats in the recent presidential election year.
They urged Democrats to embrace “criminal and harsh” rhetoric Republicans for decades, but rather positioning themselves as “serious about safety, not about the scary tactics of the sky.”
“Don’t take Trump’s crime bait. We’re leaning on solutions to prevent crime, respond to the crisis and stop violence at Stead,” they urged a slide presentation.
Some democratic politicians are trying to do just that.
They include Illinois Governor JB Pretzker Opposes Trump’s threat Expanding his efforts to Chicago. He defended the Democratic approach and said local efforts were at work to tackle crime.
“We’re also strict with crime,” Pretzker told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. Trump, he said, “I’ll talk about a good game.”
“But what the president did is make it difficult to crack down on crime,” he said.
___Collvin reported from New York. Associated Press authors Sophia Tareen of Chicago and Steve Peoples of Minneapolis reported.
___
The AP-NORC poll of 1,182 adults was conducted from August 21-25 using samples drawn from Norc’s probability-based Amerispeak panel designed to represent the US population. The margin for sampling errors across adults is either positive or negative 3.8 percentage points.
