Gallup has a very interesting poll, in which they ask people if various U.S. cities are safe–and they broke the responses down by political party:
It seems Republicans are scared of most Democratic cities, especially when they’re in Democratic states (New Orleans is the exception). Boston does well, possibly because it’s well-visited, disproportionately not Black (compared to other cities), and the popular areas are very tourist-friendly (and not ‘scary’). It also shows how people’s perceptions are influenced by media and media-influenced vibes: New York City is one of the safer places in the country–not just when one compares cities to each other, but NYC to entire states. In terms of per capita homicides, Seattle is far safer than D.C., but ANTIFA! BOOGA! BOOGA!, so Republicans think Seattle is as unsafe as D.C. And Minneapolis (ANTIFA! BOOGA! BOOGA!) had fewer homicides per capita in 2022 than Dallas.
Anyway fellow city dwellers, don’t let the nattering nabobs of ninniness get you down.
mikethemadbiologist
We are terrible at risk assessment in general. Most people think that they are safer owning a gun than not. In the words of the great philosopher, Dwight Schrute, “False!”
I’d be interested in a comparison of the estimates of safety vs some standard of the actual safety. Possibly broken down by danger types.