E-Blast: How can Democrats defend against Republicans’ soft-on-crime attacks? 🔖

OCTOBER 24, 2022

TYPE:
Eblast
AUDIENCE:
Public Safety, Race and Racism

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HIT NEWSLETTER

How can Democrats defend against Republicans’ soft-on-crime attacks?

“The defense Democrats aren’t using against Republicans’ soft-on-crime attacks” is the title of a Vox Media feature on HIT Strategies’ latest research study with Change Research showing Democrats how to lead on public safety issues.

Many Americans already know that police can’t solve every public safety issue. Our research study shows that advocates for reimagining public safety should focus their messaging on solutions like funding social services and community safety while ending the over-reliance on police to solve all safety issues.

Here are a few key highlights of the report.

62% of voters prefer funding social services and non-police responders over maximizing police budgets.

One voter stated that health professionals were more appropriate and better equipped to handle certain crises.

When reimagining public safety, the study showed that we should focus on the following: high quality public schools, jobs with livable wages, and affordable housing.

One of the best messaging approaches to unite Americans around reimagining public safety is to focus on prevention instead of punishment, particularly when combating the “crime rising” narrative.