A new poll found a 9% increase from last year among Washington, D.C., residents who think crime in the district is “extremely” or “very” serious.
According to a recent Washington Post-Schar School survey of Washington, D.C., residents, 65% believe crime is “extremely” or “very” serious in the district against 56% in 2023.
The number of Washington, D.C., residents who said they felt “very safe” is also down to 23% from 29% last year. Results from Maryland and Northern Virginia residents showed their attitudes about crime hadn’t changed in the last year, with both hovering at 28% and 15%, respectively, for “extremely” or “very” serious concerns about crime.
Washington, D.C., residents’ increased concerns come despite a 26% decrease in violent crime so far in 2024, including a 32% decrease in carjackings and a 21% decline in homicides. Last year’s 274 homicides marked the deadliest year in the area since 1997, though residents don’t seem to feel that trend is decreasing.
The poll’s results come as some members of Congress have expressed concern for their safety in the area.
“I just want your listeners to understand: Washington, D.C., has become a war zone,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) recently said on Fox News. “I fear for the safety and life of my workers on Capitol Hill walking to and from work.”
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United States Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said in April that he could safely walk his dog to the U.S. Capitol, but was mocked by Republicans for his input.
House lawmakers recently passed the D.C. Crimes Act, sponsored by Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), which aims to tinker with Washington, D.C., crime policies. Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser remarked that “the federal government should focus on federal affairs” before the vote, and Washington, D.C., at-large Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton called on the House to vote the issue down.
