New York City voters identify crime as a top issue facing the city, a recent Quinnipiac University survey found.
When asked to identify the most urgent issue facing New York City today, a plurality, 41 percent, chose crime. No other issue came close, as affordable housing came in second with 17 percent, followed by homelessness (12 percent), inflation (8 percent), and immigration (8 percent).
Sixty-three percent of Republicans, specifically, chose crime as the most urgent issue in New York City, as did 53 percent of independents and a plurality of Democrats, 30 percent.
Additionally, four in ten voters said they feel “less safe” in the city today than they did one year ago, while 53 percent said they feel “about the same.” Just eight percent said they feel “safer.”
Further, most, 57 percent, disapprove of the way New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) is handling crime in the city, while just 36 percent approve. Most Republicans and independents, 78 percent and 63 percent, respectively, disapprove of the way Adams is handling the crime issue, and a plurality of Democrats, 48 percent, feel the same way.
The survey was taken January 26-30, 2023, among 1,310 registered New York City voters and has a +/- 2.7 percent margin of error.
November data from the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) showed crime skyrocketing in the city, with robbery up 32.4 percent, rape up 10.9 percent, and burglary up 29.1 percent. At the time, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) dismissed the alarming statistics as having anything to do with bail reform.
Further, a recent study found that so-called justice system “reforms” have prompted prosecutors throw out cases, contributing to the mounting crime issue plaguing the blue city.
The crime issue made national headlines again last month after a group of teenagers beat Fox News meteorologist Adam Klotz on a New York City subway after he allegedly told them to leave an older man alone.
“Why is the weather guy on the train trying to stop crime in the middle of the night? Like, where is Eric Adams? Where’s the city? Why am I doing this? Why is it up to me?” Klotz remarked.
Meanwhile, Mayor Adams has moved his focus to other matters in the city, forcing city employees to take Critical Race Theory (CRT) training and begging for billions to house and feed migrants within the city, some of whom will not leave the hotels they were placed in by the mayor’s administration.