Most Feel Personally Less Safe, Ready to Turn to Biden

Voters worry about their safety more these days and have more confidence in Joe Biden than President Trump to make things better. But once again party affiliation makes a big difference.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 52% of Likely U.S. Voters feel personally less safe than they did four years ago. Nineteen percent (19%) feel more safe now, while 26% say their feeling of personal safety is about the same. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Sixty-four percent (64%) of Democrats and 53% of voters not affiliated with either major party feel less safe now, compared to just 39% of Republicans. GOP voters are more likely than the others to feel more safe.

Forty-nine percent (49%) of all voters believe Biden, the putative Democratic presidential nominee, will make America a safer place to live. Forty-two percent (42%) disagree and think Trump will do a better job.

Among voters who feel less safe than they did four years ago, 70% believe Biden will make America safer. Just 22% express more confidence in Trump.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted June 23-24, 2020 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Most Americans value the role of the police and worry that increasing criticism of cops will make their communities less safe. Black Americans are the most concerned.

Predictably, 76% of Democrats believe Biden will make America safer, while 75% of Republicans have more confidence in the president. Among unaffiliated voters, Biden has a 48% to 37% trust advantage.

Women feel more safe and less safe than men do these days. Men are more likely to report no change.

Those under 40 are a lot less worried about their safety than their elders are. Older voters express more confidence in Biden to make their lives safer.

Fifty-five percent (55%) of whites feel less safe than they did four years ago, compared to 47% of blacks and 45% of other minority voters. Biden is the favorite among all three groups, especially among blacks.

The Black Lives Matter movement is calling for defunding police departments nationwide and channeling that money into more social services. But most voters are opposed to cutting their local police budget.

Late last month, 78% were still concerned personally about the coronavirus threat, with 46% who were Very Concerned.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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