Most Americans Say They Feel 'Safe' in Their Communities as Trump Pushes Concerns About Crime

While President Donald Trump doubles down on his law and order message and pushes concerns about crime, the significant majority of Americans say they feel "safe" in their communities.

A new poll by Survey Money for Axios, which was carried out from August 31 to September 6 and was published Thursday, shows that 91 percent of Americans say they feel "safe" in their communities. Just over half (51 percent) said they feel "very safe," while an additional 40 percent said they feel "somewhat safe." Only 7 percent of respondents said they do not feel safe in their communities. The survey has a margin of error of just plus or minus 1 percentage point, and polled more than 35,000 U.S. adults.

Suburban voters are more likely to say their communities are very safe—with 54 percent classifying them this way. Among rural voters, 58 percent say the places where they live are very safe. White Americans are also the demographic most like to feel exceptionally secure in their communities, with 57 percent saying they feel very safe. Comparatively, just 43 percent of Hispanics, 42 percent of Asians and 38 percent of Black Americans say the same.

Trump has explicitly appealed to suburban voters—and specifically suburban women—with his "law and order" messaging. "The 'suburban housewife' will be voting for me. They want safety & are thrilled that I ended the long running program where low income housing would invade their neighborhood," the president tweeted in August.

Notably, white suburban women who said they don't feel safe are more likely to support Trump over Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Of those that feel insecure in their neighborhoods, 42 percent said they'd back Trump in the upcoming election while just 34 percent said they'd support Biden. However, those who felt "very safe" and "somewhat safe" were more likely to back the Democratic nominee, by margins of 55 percent to 36 percent and 45 percent and 44 percent respectively.

Overall, relatively few suburban white women feel they are unsafe in their communities, however. Just 5 percent said that they are "not safe" or "not safe at all," while the overwhelming majority (94 percent) said they feel "very" or "somewhat" safe.

Despite Trump playing up fears over crime, it has actually been on the decline for over a decade. A new report released this week by the FBI showed that violent crime and property crime had both declined from January to June of this year when compared to the same time period in 2019. However, incidents of arson had increased significantly. Several major cities across the country have also seen surges in shootings and homicides.