Poll: Violent Crime Tops List of Biggest Threats

Americans perceive a plethora of troubling trends in the U.S., but they are particularly worried about the recent upsurge in violent crime rates across the nation. That’s the message sent by this month’s national I&I/TIPP Poll.

So reports Terry Jones for Issues and Insights.

The I&I/TIPP poll asked people “Which of the following is the biggest threat to the country,” followed by nine possible answers. Among the possible “biggest threats,” just four were able to break into double-digits: The aforementioned issue of “violent crime” (17%), “right-wing terrorists” (14%), “China” (13%), and “rising inflation” (12%).

The graph below shows an interesting breakout of perceived threats by party:

This is an X-Y graph with the percentage of Republicans citing a listed threat as number one on the X axis and the percentage of Democrats doing the same on the Y axis. A point close to the 45-degree line indicates similar percentages across party lines, while a point far off the line has sharp partisan differences. Click on the graph for a larger view.

Among issues with little partisan divide, violent crime is cited most often by a considerable margin with rising inflation second. China is often cited by Republicans but much less often by Democrats. Right-wing terrorists are the opposite.