Democrats’ credibility with voters on the issue of crime is so poor that they’d be better off not responding when they come under attack, according to Stan Greenberg, a pollster for the Democratic Party.
THE QUOTE
“I was asked repeatedly by colleagues and campaigning Democrats, ‘What should we be saying on crime and when I’m attacked for “defunding the police”?'” Greenberg wrote in an essay published Thursday by The American Prospect, in which he discussed the findings of a recent survey conducted by his firm.
“To be honest, Democrats were in such terrible shape on crime at this late point, I said, speak as little as possible or mumble. Nothing they’ve said up until now was reassuring and helpful.”
- “The Democrats had so little credibility on crime that any message I tested this year against the Republicans ended up losing us votes, even messages that voters previously liked,” he wrote about the midterm campaign, noting the failure of messages focusing on gun violence and increasing police funding.
- Greenberg added that in mid-October, he found a message that worked: radically increasing police funding, calling violent crime a top priority and slamming more radical “defund” Democrats.
- Greenberg’s message echoes President Joe Biden’s “Safer America Plan,” which aims to fund 100,000 new police officers.