Approval of the police is falling steadily, and six in 10 Britons think crime is on the rise nationwide
In recent months, the proportion of Britons saying the police are doing a good job has declined. Two years ago, in February 2020, seven in 10 Britons said they thought the police were doing well. Now barely half of the public (53%) do so, while the percentage saying that the police are doing a bad job has more than doubled from 15% to 37%.
Conservative voters are more likely to think the police are doing a good job (61%) than Labour voters (44%). The collapse of approval in the police has been particularly acute among Labour voters, falling 31pts from 75% in February 2020.
Britons are losing confidence in the police’s ability to deal with crime locally
As approval of the police declines, so does Britons’ confidence in the police’s ability to deal with crime in their local area. The proportion of Britons saying they have ‘a great deal’ or ‘a fair amount’ of confidence in the police’s ability to tackle local crime now sits at 43%, and around half (47%) of the public now have ‘not very much confidence’ or ‘no confidence at all’ in the police.
Again, confidence in the police has fallen more dramatically among Labour voters than Conservative ones. Both groups had the same level of confidence in the police in February 2020 (56%), but while this has since fallen to 47% among Tories, it has sunk to just 35% among Labour voters.
Britons tend to think crime has gone up – but fewer think crime is on the rise in their local area
A consistently high proportion of Britons think that crime has gone up nationally – latest YouGov data shows that 61% of the public believe crime has risen over the last few years. One in six (17%) think the level of crime across Britain has remained constant, while just 4% think it has gone down and 17% are unsure.
When it comes to crime in their local area, Britons are much more split, although similarly few think that crime has gone down. One in three (37%) think crime has risen in their local area over the last few years, while 39% say it has stayed the same, 5% think it has gone down and 20% are unsure.
