Democrat voters in New York want more cops on the street amid skyrocketing violent crime: poll

New polling for the New York City mayoral race shows Democrats want more uniformed police, and say that the primary issue the city faces is crime.

New polling for the New York City mayoral race shows that Democrat voters care more about crime than police reform and that even Democrats think there should be more police in the streets to help fight the new wave of crime. Support for more uniform police is even higher among black voters and low income individuals. Voters are split down the middle when asked if New York is heading in the right direction or the wrong direction.

The polls conducted by Spectrum News NY1 show that 46% of Democrats in New York say that crime is the biggest issue facing the city, while only 12% said police reform. 69% of Democrats say they want more police in the streets and in the subway system while agreeing that this will have the biggest impact on reducing crime. Among black voters, 77% say they would like to see more police officers in the subway.

Crime is increasing in New York even compared to the lawlessness seen in the summer of 2020. Overall crime is up 22% in May 2021 compared to last year. This includes a 47% increase in robberies and a 73% increase in shootings. New York is also seeing a 335% increase in anti-Asian hate crimes with 87 so far this year compared to 20 last year.

Only a small minority say that defunding the police to fund community programs will have an impact on crime. This would include a large majority of those who call themselves "very liberal." Nearly half of likely voters say they do not feel safe traveling on the subway, while others don't feel safe even traveling to and from work.

21% of New Yorkers want undercover police officers to return to high crime areas. This program was cut during the height of the protests last spring. Although the poll shows voters being nervous about crime in general, the vast majority of people feel safe in their own neighbourhood.

The poll also shows New Yorkers turning away from woke admissions policies. The poll says that a majority of respondents say that changing admissions polices to attempt to admit more black and Latino would not improve education as much as helping already low performing schools. 82% of voters also say that the pandemic is now under control.