Call it the Donald Trump trickle-down freak-out.
A study by the Utah Foundation found that a majority of Utah voters rated crime at 4 or 5 on a 5-point scale of the state’s problems and among the top 10 concerns for 2016.
BUT crime rates in Utah have steadily declined since 1995. Utah Foundation cites statistics from the FBI and the Utah Department of Public Safety that find that violent crime have dropped in Utah 34 percent, compared to a national decrease of 45 percent.
“It makes sense that people are concerned about crime, particularly violent crime. While violent crime has been trending down for years you still see spikes, like July 2016 having the most homicides in one month since 2007,” says Shawn Teigen, Research Director at Utah Foundation. But he says, “There are still a lot of priorities that rank higher for Utahns, like healthcare, air quality, and education.”
In short, you can crawl out from under your bed and start demanding better schools, air and healthcare.
