Only 15% of Denverites approve of the city’s approach to crime and public safety, but residents are split on the most effective way to make the city safer, according to a new poll released Wednesday.
A survey of 633 Denver voters conducted by Public Policy Polling on Feb. 20 and 21 found that more than half of those polled feel very or somewhat safe in the city, though two-thirds said they felt less safe than they did before COVID-19.
The Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition 4 Action — a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating the overuse of the criminal justice system, advancing racial justice in Colorado and promoting prosecutorial accountability — commissioned the poll before the upcoming mayoral election to get beyond candidates’ messaging and ascertain what Denver’s voters actually think about crime and how to mitigate it, said Leanne Wheeler, the organization’s campaign manager.
“Denver will be electing a new mayor for the first time in 12 years and these candidates represent a wide range of views on public safety and reform,” Wheeler said.
The solutions proposed by the 17 people running for the city’s top position range from improving resources for the homeless, improving economic equality and opportunity, hiring more police officers, expanding mental health care and building youth centers.
The top issues in the mayor’s race, according to those polled, are housing and homelessness (39%), crime and public safety (28%) and the economy (13%).
Whether people chose housing or crime depended on their political leanings — 40% of Republicans identified crime as the top issue while only 19% of Democrats did. Similarly, 48% of Democrats chose housing as their top issue while only 23% of Republicans did.
How can the city’s leaders and new mayor most effectively reduce crime? Those polled were split.
Thirty-one percent said increasing mental health services, 23% said increasing economic opportunities, 20% said hiring more police officers and 15% said increasing criminal penalties. Eleven percent said they simply didn’t know.
“This poll shows that most Denver voters recognize that the best way to address crime is to address the social and economic conditions that contribute to it,” Wheeler said. “We need a mayor that recognizes that.”
Other findings include:
25% of those polled said funding supervised drug-use sites would be the most effective way to reduce drug use and deaths
People who identified as Republicans reported feeling less safe than Democrats or Independents, even though all three groups reported similar rates of crime victimization. Only 28% of Republicans said they were very or somewhat safe, compared to 68% of Democrats and 45% of Independents. Twenty-eight percent of Republicans said they were a victim of crime in the last year, compared to 23% of Democrats and 32% of Independents.
Only a third of those polled described the relationship between police and the community as positive, while 43% said it was negative. A quarter of those polled said they weren’t sure.
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