SAN FRANCISCO: Nearly half of respondents in Seattle, northwestern US state of Washington, identified drug use as their biggest public safety concern, while 33 per cent were most concerned about gun violence, according to a poll published on Monday.
The poll by Seattle Times and Suffolk University also finds that less than 8 per cent of respondents said crime had decreased in the past year, while a third said it had increased, and 56 per cent felt that crime in their neighbourhood had stayed about the same over the past year, said Xinhua.
There’s a significant age split in how people answered the question. Of the respondents who identified gun violence as a top safety concern, 36 per cent were people 65 and older compared with 15 per cent of respondents aged 18 to 24. While 58 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 said drug use was their top public safety concern, 44 per cent of respondents 65 and older picked that answer.
Women were likelier than men to say crime has increased in their neighbourhood, 38 per cent to 30 per cent.
People who make more money reported feeling safer in their neighbourhood, as 90 per cent of respondents making US$250,000 a year reported they feel safe, while 74 per cent of respondents who make less than US$50,000 annually said they feel safe.
The poll was conducted by phone on June 12-16 and has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.
The results are “loosely consistent” with those from the 2022 Seattle Public Safety Survey, said Jacqueline Helfgott, director of Seattle University’s Crime & Justice Research Centre. – BERNAMA-XINHUA
