With the GOP seizing on big-city crime as a top midterm issue, the Democratic think tank Third Way is trying to turn the tables with this provocative finding in a new report, "The Red State Murder Problem":
Driving the news: The six states with the highest per-capita murder rates all voted for President Trump in 2020 — as did eight of the top 10.
- "Republicans seem to do a much better job of talking about stopping crime than stopping crime," said Jim Kessler, Third Way's EVP for policy, and an author of the report.
Third Way looked at the 2020 murder rates in the 25 states that voted for Donald Trump, compared to the 25 states that voted for Joe Biden:
- In Trump states, the rate was 8.20 murders per 100,000 residents.
- In Biden states, the rate was 5.78 murders per 100,000 residents.