New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) appears to believe the concern about crime is at least in part the result of a Republican-crafted conspiracy.
During an appearance on MSNBC on Sunday, Hochul said of Republicans, “These are master manipulators.”
“They have this conspiracy going all across America trying to convince people that in Democrat states, they’re not as safe. Well, guess what, they’re also not only election deniers. They’re data deniers,” she continued. “The data shows that shootings and murders are down in our state by 15% in New York City.”
Watch the video below:
New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul claims it’s a “conspiracy” that violent crime is rising.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 31, 2022
“[Republicans] are master manipulators. They have this conspiracy going all across America trying to convince people that in Democrat states, they’re not as safe.” pic.twitter.com/JWwzRr51mj
In recent weeks, polls have shown the New York gubernatorial race a lot closer than many probably would have expected it would be at the beginning of the year. RealClearPolitics shows Hochul’s lead over Rep. Lee Zeldin (R) has shrunk from nearly 20 points to 7.3 points.
The Washington Post noted in an article published on Oct. 20 that data from the FBI showed Oklahoma had a higher crime rate than New York or California in 2020.
“Notice that we’re talking about rates: the frequency of violent crime. It’s certainly not true that there is more violent crime in Oklahoma than New York or California, since those states have much larger populations,” the article stated.
However, it also added an important stipulation, “Those rates are from 2020. We don’t have good state-level data from 2021 at this point, much less 2022, thanks to changes in how the FBI collects data. Many large police departments haven’t yet converted over to the new system, so the 2021 data reported to the FBI from New York (for example) covers only 17 percent of the state’s population.”
So if we’re trying to compare states’ crime rates, the best data we have right now to go on is from two years ago before concerns about crime really began to dominate the election.
The New York Times also noted in September that murders have fallen in major cities after a large increase in 2020 and 2021.
But it is not just murder people are concerned about. They’re also concerned about robberies and theft. The Times reported robberies and thefts rose 20% in the first half of 2022 in major cities. And the 10 largest cities in the U.S. have Democratic mayors.
And CNN reports crime in New York City’s transit system is up 40%. Robberies are up 34% while felony assaults in the subways are up 17%.
It doesn’t take some massive Republican conspiracy theory to fuel concerns about crime.
If you’re a New York City resident and you see local news stories about people being brutally beaten on the street or thrown onto subway tracks — and you commute to work on the subway — it is not going to matter that Oklahoma has a higher crime rate than your state.
Perhaps conservative outlets disproportionately cover crime in Democratic-led states and cities.
But Hochul is just out of touch if she thinks voters in deep blue New York are being manipulated by Republicans and Fox News into worrying about their own safety and her handling of crime.
