During the 2024 presidential election campaign, YouGov asked registered voters their views on eight topics, including crime — the crime-related issues that matter most to them, the policies they support, and the candidates they trust.
Among our findings:
- The issue of crime is ranked highly among Trump's supporters — 45% say it's one of their three biggest issues — but is far less likely to be prioritized by voters supporting Harris, only 19% of whom say it's a top-three issue.
- The crime-related issue that voters are most likely to emphasize is gun policy. Gun policy is by far the top issue for supporters of Harris, followed by racial disparities in criminal justice. Trump's voters place the most priority on police funding and criminal sentencing, though a large share also cares about guns.
- Trump is somewhat preferred to Harris on the handling of crime overall, but trust on specific crime-related issues varies. Harris is more trusted than Trump for handling racial disparities in criminal justice, white collar crime, and marijuana laws. Trump leads Harris in trust on handling police funding and criminal sentencing. Voters are closely divided on who they trust more to handle gun policy, policing practices, and privacy rights.
- Harris' crime policies are, on average, more popular than Trump's. Majorities of voters favor Harris-backed proposals for universal background checks for gun purchases and reentry programs for former prisoners. Trump's proposal to impose mandatory minimum sentences for violent crimes also is supported by a large majority of voters, including by most of his supporters and Harris'. Two of his plans each get far less support, including from less than half of his own supporters: giving qualified immunity to police officers and allowing the death penalty for drug dealers.
- Voters are largely able to correctly identify Harris' policies regarding guns. Most voters also know that Trump wants to pardon participants in the January 6th attack and to send troops into cities to enforce order. Fewer than half of voters — including just 37% of his own supporters — know about Trump's support for allowing the death penalty to be imposed on drug dealers.
Which crime issues do voters care about?
In a series of recent surveys, we asked voters to choose up to three issues that are most important to them out of a list of eight: the economy, health care, immigration, crime, social issues, environment and energy, foreign policy, and education.
To better understand which specific crime issues voters care about, we asked them to select up to three issues from a list of 10 that are most important to them.
Who do voters trust to handle crime?
Since Harris entered the presidential race against Trump, we've tracked who voters trust more to handle various issues, including crime.
In our latest survey, we asked voters to tell us which of 10 crime-related issues they trust Harris and Trump to handle.
Which crime policies do voters support?
We asked voters whether they support or oppose selected crime proposals that have been backed by Harris, Trump, or their respective parties. It was not revealed to respondents which candidate was connected to which policy. The policies come from the 2024 Democratic and Republican Party platforms, as well as publicly available interviews, speeches, debates, and online posts by the candidates. For more sourcing information, see the details provided here.
How familiar are voters with Harris' and Trump's crime agendas?
After providing their opinions on various crime plans, respondents were asked which candidate they think supports each one, with options of Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, both, or neither. Respondents who selected "both candidates" are included as saying both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
Explore Americans' views on policies across all issue areas:
See other polling related to crime
- What Americans think about crime and Kamala Harris' approach to it
- Several gun control measures have majority support — including huge majorities for some
- Americans are evenly divided on whether the average person can be trusted with a gun
- True crime: How does the genre affect Americans?
- Presidential pardons: Which ones do Americans approve of?
- Most Republicans say a criminal past is highly undesirable in a CEO; fewer say it is for a president
- When do Americans think it is justified for a person to respond to a perceived threat with force?
- After recent mass shootings, a majority of Americans desire stricter gun control laws
- What Americans think about hate crimes, discrimination, and guns
- Most Americans don’t trust Alex Jones, but some still believe that mass shootings have been faked
- Majorities of Americans support banning homemade guns and semi-automatic weapons
- Most Republicans and Democrats favor raising the age for owning a semi-automatic weapon
- Americans think Congress is unlikely to pass new gun control laws
- Most Americans want more gun control but doubt it would stop mass shootings
- How Americans feel about the death penalty
- Far more Republicans than Democrats say crime has increased a lot over the past year
Curious where voters stand on other issues? Click the links below to learn more.
- Overview of all issues
- Economy
- Health care
- Immigration
- Social issues
- Environment and energy
- Foreign policy
- Education
See the full results for these surveys
See the full list of the policies and their sources
Methodology: This poll was conducted online on September 25 - 27, 2024 among 1,122 U.S. adult citizens, including 1,028 registered voters. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample, as well as for registered voters, is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty
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