Crime is surging in New York City, and residents are fed up. The number of shooting victims has nearly doubled since this time three years ago, and a frustrated Mayor Eric Adams called the city “a laughingstock” on Sunday. But public safety is no laughing matter to Gothamites, according to our latest poll of the city with Echelon Insights. New Yorkers fear crime and hold views on criminal justice at odds with new Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s progressive policies.
Crime is a top concern for nearly all New Yorkers today. One area of concern is the subway, where nearly six in ten say that they feel unsafe. Nearly 90 percent see problems in the city with homelessness and nearly as many with mental illness and substance abuse. But while there’s a lot of agreement on crime concerns, poorer and black New Yorkers—who represent about one-fifth of residents but accounted for 67 percent of murder victims and 72 percent of shooting victims in 2021—are far more likely to say crime is a “very big” problem for the city.
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