Guns, crime rise on list of top problems in US: Gallup

The number of Americans listing guns and crime as the top issue facing the U.S. has increased, according to a new Gallup poll.

Seven percent in the poll said guns and gun control was the top issue facing America, while 6 percent said the same about crime and violence.

The two issues rank fifth and sixth, respectively, on Gallup’s Most Important Problem list, behind concerns about the government and poor leadership, the economy, the high cost of living and inflation, and immigration.

But the concerns about guns and crime saw a notable uptick from last month, when 3 percent said crime was the most important issue facing the U.S. and 1 percent said the same about guns, according to Gallup.

The rise was primarily driven by Democrat concerns. While only 3 percent said in March that guns were a top issue, 18 percent said the same in April. The portion of Democrats citing crime as the most important issue facing America also rose from 5 percent in March to 11 percent in April, the poll found.

The survey was conducted in the wake of a shooting in late March at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tenn., in which three 9-year-olds and three staff members were killed.

April also saw a string of high-profile incidents in which people were shot for mistakenly approaching the wrong house or car. Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager from Kansas City, Mo., was shot by a white homeowner after he went to the wrong address to pick up his twin brothers.

Just two days after Yarl’s shooting, Kaylin Gillis was fatally shot after she accidentally pulled into the wrong driveway in upstate New York. Two Texas cheerleaders were shot a few days later when they mistakenly got into the wrong car in a grocery store parking lot.

The Gallup poll surveyed 1,013 adults in America from April 3-25 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

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