Nearly 80 percent of Americans say crime has increased in past year: poll

Nearly 80 percent of Americans say that crime has increased over the past year, according to a Gallup poll released Friday. 

The survey of 1,053 adults found that 78 percent of Americans surveyed say that there is more crime in the U.S. than there was a year ago, up 14 points from a similar poll conducted by Gallup last year. 

The poll found that the increase in perceptions of crime was largely driven by Republican respondents, 83 percent of whom say crime has increased. Meanwhile, 73 percent of Democrats polled said that crime had increased. 

Gallup pointed to Republicans highlighting looting and violence erupting at some racial justice protests earlier this year following the police killing of George Floyd as a possible reason for the increase.

Fifty-one percent of those surveyed said the issue of crime is “extremely” or “very serious.” 

Meanwhile, only 38 percent of Americans said there is less crime in their local area than there was a year ago. In addition, 29 percent of respondents said they would be afraid to walk within their local area alone at night. 

Gallup noted that in recent years, Americans’ perception of crime has been out of sync with federal crime statistics that have shown crime decreasing. The official crime statistics for 2020 will be released next year. 

The poll surveyed 1,053 adults between Sept. 30- Oct. 15. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.