Crime more of a concern to voters than abortion

69% of voters are concerned about crime and trust Republicans more to handle major problems.

Crime outranked abortion among Americans' concerns, 69% vs. 62% respectively, according to a survey released Sunday by ABC / WaPo. Respondents also said they have more confidence in Republicans to handle this crisis. The poll shows this margin of confidence in Republicans vs. Democrats to handle crime to be the widest it's been in 30 years. This comes just days before the midterm elections.

The economy (89%), education (77%) and inflation (76%) are the issues voters consider most important as the midterm elections approach. Immigration and climate change received 61% and 50%, respectively.

Republican themes

When voters were asked which political party they trust to do a better job handling key issues, 52% of respondents answered in favor of the Republican Party when it comes to crime, compared to just 38% for Democrats.

A Trafalgar Group survey, which was conducted Sept. 17-20, found that 67.9% of people feel less safe now than they did two years ago.

86.8% of Republicans do not feel as safe now as they did two years ago, while only 9.8% reported they felt as safe. Democrats were fairly evenly split, with 44.9% feeling less safe and 47.8% the same as two years ago. In the "no party/other" category, 64.1% reported feeling less safe now than they felt two years ago, while only 30.9% said they felt as safe or safer.