WaPo Crime Report

7/24/2019 WaPo Crime Report

1/5

1

This Washington Post poll was conducted by telephone Nov. 12-15, 2015, among a random

sample of 1,005 adult residents of the District of Columbia reached on conventional

and cellular phones by live interviewers. The margin of sampling error for overall

results is four percentage points. Sampling, data collection and tabulation by Abt

SRBI, Inc of New York, NY.

(Full methodological details appended at the end.)

* = less than .5 percent

RV=Registered voters

1. First, do you think things in the District of Columbia are generally going in the

right direction, or do you feel things have gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong

track?

Right Wrong Neither No

direction track (vol.) opinion

11/15/15 57 32 NA 10

11/15/15 RV 56 36 NA 8

3/23/14 RV 62 29 5 4

1/12/14 RV 59 33 5 3

1/12/14 59 32 5 4

7/17/12 40 45 8 65/31/11* 46 36 11 7

8/26/10 56 29 9 6

1/28/10 52 29 11 8

1/8/08 56 31 8 5

7/18/06 42 46 7 5

5/19/02 54 33 8 5

2/7/00 69 22 6 3

8/27/98** 47 46 NA 7

5/18/98 31 58 4 6

5/4/97 20 71 6 2

5/19/96 14 78 NA 2

2/29/96 16 80 NA 4

3/02/95 15 80 NA 5

12/21/93 11 83 NA 6

7/86 42 47 NA 12*Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation

2. What is the biggest problem facing the District today, the one you want the mayor

to work the hardest to solve?

11/15/15 5/31/11*

Crime/violence 34 12

Housing costs/

low income housing/

more affordable housing 18 4

ECONOMY NET 11 22

Jobs/employment/

Opportunities 5 16Economy/Econ development/

improving quality of life/

cost of living 5 5

Taxes 1 1

Education/improving schools 9 25

TRANSPORTATION NET 8 NA

Traffic/parking problems 6 5

Other transportation/Metro 2 NA

Poverty/homelessness 6 2

Want DC to be self-governing/


2/5

2

representation in Congress/

Congressional oversight 2 2

Race issues/income inequality/

Gentrification 2 NA

CITY GOVERNMENT NET 2 13

Improve city government/

increase efficiency/

less corrupt 1 6

Balanced budget/

improve finances 1 5

Mayor/issues involving Mayor * 1

Improving city services 1

Drugs/marijuana 1 NA

Improving soc. services/

health care NA 2

Nothing NA *

Other 5 4

Don't know 4 4

*Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation

-------------- Among Registered Voters --------------

11/15/15 5/31/11* 8/26/10 7/18/06 5/19/02 2/7/00

Crime/violence 33 10 13 38 22 21

Housing costs/

low income housing/

more affordable housing 19 4 4 16 15 2

ECONOMY NET 10 23 26 5 14 12

Jobs/employment/

Opportunities 5 16 18 3 9 7

Economy/Econ development/

improving quality of life/

cost of living 5 6 8 2 3 4

Taxes 1 1 * 1 2 2

Education/improving schools 9 26 34 24 18 17

TRANSPORTATION NET 6 NA NA NA NA NA

Traffic/parking problems 4 3 2 1 1 3

Other transportation/Metro 2 NA NA NA NA NAPoverty/homelessness 7 2 2 2 2 3

Race issues/income inequality/

Gentrification 2 NA NA NA NA NA

Want DC to be self-governing/

representation in Congress/

Congressional oversight 2 4 1 1 3 3

CITY GOVERNMENT NET 2 15 4 2 3 6

Improve city government/

increase efficiency/

less corrupt 1 7 2 1 3 4

Balanced budget/

improve finances 1 6 2 1 1 2

Mayor/issues involving Mayor 1 1 NA NA NA NA

Improving city services 1 4 2 4 8 14

Drugs/marijuana 1 NA NA NA NA NAImproving soc. services/

health care NA 2 NA 1 3 3

Nothing NA * 0 NA * 5

Other 5 3 10 3 7 8

Don't know 4 4 3 3 4 3



3/5

3

3. Do you approve or disapprove of the way that Muriel Bowser is handling her job as

Mayor? Do you approve strongly or somewhat?

-------Approve--------- -------Disapprove------- No

NET Strongly Somewhat NET Somewhat Strongly opin.

11/15/15 58 17 41 25 14 10 18

11/15/15 RV 57 16 41 29 16 13 14

4. Now Im going to mention some issues that face our community, and for each, please

tell me whether you think Mayor Bowser is doing an excellent job, good, not-so-good or

poor job in dealing with this issue.

11/15/15 Summary table

--Excellent/Good--- --Not-so-good/Poor-- No

NET Excel. Good NET Not Good Poor op.

a. reducing crime in the city 33 3 30 63 37 26 5

b. held for release.

c. held for release.

d. held for release.

5. Generally speaking, how would you rate the job (ITEM): excellent, good, not so good

or poor?

11/15/15 Summary table

- Excellent/Good - -- Not Good/Poor -- No

NET Excel. Good NET Not Good Poor opin.

a. that District police are doing 63 10 53 34 24 11 3

b. held for release.

c. held for release.

Trend:

a. The job that district police are doing

--Excellent/Good-- ---Not Good/Poor--- No

NET Excel. Good NET Not Good Poor opin.11/15/15 63 10 53 34 24 11 3

1/12/14 71 12 59 27 17 10 2

5/31/11* 76 15 61 21 16 5 3

1/28/10 73 12 61 25 17 8 2

1/8/08 61 8 53 37 27 10 2

7/18/06 RV 53 6 47 43 30 13 4

5/19/02 65 8 57 31 21 10 4

2/7/00 63 9 54 33 23 10 4

5/18/98 49 7 42 45 29 16 5

5/4/97 68 15 53 30 21 9 2

5/21/90 65 13 52 26 20 6 9


Questions 6-15 held for release.

On another subject,

16. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Cathy Lanier is handling her job as D.C.

police chief?

Approve Disapprove No opinion

11/15/15 61 25 14

9/16/14 71 14 15


4/5

4

Compare to: For each of the following people, please tell me if you have a favorable

or unfavorable impression of that person, or perhaps you dontknow enough to say. a.

Police Chief Cathy Lanier

------- Favorable ------- ------ Unfavorable ------ No

NET Strongly Somewhat NET Somewhat Strongly opinion

1/28/10 68 33 36 10 5 5 21

1/8/08 69 NA NA 15 NA NA 16

17. These days, how safe from crime do you feel in your neighborhood? Would you say

you feel very safe from crime, somewhat safe, not too safe, or not safe at all?

-------Safe-------- --------Not safe-------- No

NET Very Somewhat NET Not too Not at all opinion

11/15/15 74 23 52 26 18 8 *

5/31/11* 82 26 55 18 13 5 *

1/28/10 79 27 52 21 15 6 *

1/8/08 74 24 50 26 16 11 -

7/18/06 RV 72 15 57 28 19 8 1

5/19/02 74 27 47 25 16 9 *

2/7/00 80 24 56 20 15 5 1

5/18/98 67 15 52 32 20 12 *

12/93 57 11 47 43 23 20 -


18. Do you think the response of the District police to the rise in murders this year

has been too tough, not tough enough, or has it been about right?

Too Not tough About No

tough enough right opinion

11/15/15 5 51 36 8

19. Do you support or oppose making it against the law to own any gun in the District?

Support Oppose No opinion

11/15/15 51 47 3

20. Do you think outlawing all guns would make the District more safe, less safe or

wouldnt it make a difference?

More Less Wouldnt make No

safe safe a difference opinion

11/15/15 42 12 43 2

Questions 21-30 held for release.

901. Generally speaking, do you usually think of yourself as:

Democrat Republican Independent Other No op.

11/15/15 67 6 20 5 2

7/17/12 65 7 23 2 3

5/31/11 68 7 23 1 2

1/28/10 67 7 22 2 2

1/28/10 RV 70 6 21 2 2

1/8/08 68 6 22 3 1


5/5

5

1/8/08 RV 71 5 20 3 1

7/18/06 RV 69 7 21 2 1

***END***

METHODOLOGICAL DETAILS

This poll was sponsored and funded by The Washington Post. The questionnaire was

administered with the exact questions in the exact order as appears in this document.

Interviews were conducted English. If a question was asked of a reduced base of the

sample, a parenthetical preceding the question identifies the group asked. Questions

that contain parenthetical phrases indicate clauses that were randomly rotated for

respondents. Trended references to results with LV or RV indicate results among

likely voters or registered voters.

A dual landline and cell phone telephone sample was generated using Random Digit

Dialing procedures by Survey Sampling International (SSI). A supplemental sample of

non-202 area code cell phone numbers was drawn from Aristotle, and screened to

identify individuals who were cell phone-only. The survey was conducted with 452

respondents reached on landline phones, 553 reached on cellular phones including; 395

respondents were cell phone owners with no landline phone at home, including 202

sampled from the registered voter list.

Interviewers called landlines and asked to interview the youngest male or youngest

female who is at home at the time, with the male requested 75 percent of the time.

Interviewers calling cellular phones interviewed the respondent if they were eligible

to participate.

This survey uses statistical weighting procedures to account for differential chances

of selection depending on phone ownership and to match known demographic benchmarks.

The overall adult sample is weighted using a raking procedure to match the demographic

makeup of the population by sex, city wards, age, education, race/ethnicity, voter

registration status and the share of cell phone only/landline only/dual service

household.

Sources for weighting targets include the 2009-2013 American Community Survey (age,sex, education, race, city wards), the 2014 Current Population Survey (voter

registration) and the 2013 National Health Interview Survey (telephone use).

All error margins have been adjusted to account for the surveys design effect, which

is 1.65 in this survey. The design effect is a factor representing the surveys

deviation from a simple random sample, and takes into account decreases in precision

due to sample design and weighting procedures. Surveys that do not incorporate a

design effect overstate their precision.

[email protected] further information about how The Washington Post

conducts polls.
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WaPo Crime Report