Media Contact: Nick Fulton, nfulton@vera.org

On behalf of Vera Action, YouGov Blue this month fielded message tests comparing different Democratic and Republican messaging frames about crime and public safety. This polling comes on the heels of Trump’s guilty conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records. 

The survey, conducted from June 12 to June 14, 2024, on 1,003 registered voters, compared two different Democratic messages against a Republican message on crime. The results indicate that Democratic messaging that focuses on Trump’s criminal conviction loses by 3 points to a GOP opponent. The messaging tested in this poll closely resembles that of recent statements made by the Biden campaign touting the president as a “law and order” candidate running against a “convicted criminal.”

The same survey found that a Democratic candidate who delivers a “serious about safety” narrative that focuses on safety, accountability, and justice outperforms a GOP candidate running on a “tough-on-crime” platform by 8 points. 

“This new polling reinforces what Vera Action’s earlier research found—that voters want candidates who own their own narrative on safety, not more of the GOP “tough-on-crime” playbook or Democrats who sound like their opposition. Voters are far more interested in real solutions that prevent crime, respond to crises, and stop violence. It’s ineffective to stay in the tough or soft on crime debate and Democrats calling Trump a ‘convicted felon’ is unlikely to have a meaningful impact on voters — many of whom have experienced the legal system firsthand.”  stated Insha Rahman, director of Vera Action. 

You can find a complete brief of this polling data linked here. 

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Vera Action spokespeople are available for comment; reach out to nfulton@vera.org for any questions or inquiries. For more polling and research from Vera Action, find our Messaging Research and Polling Library linked here.