Biden's State of the Union Address: Voters unite on his pledge to 'fund the police' amid crime surge
Pollster Lee Carter joined 'Fox & Friends' to discuss voters' reactions to Biden's first State of the Union Address.
American voters rallied around at least one thing on President Biden's first State of the Union Address: that the nation must "fund the police" as violent crime plagues cities nationwide.
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Pollster Lee Carter, joined "Fox & Friends" Wednesday to discuss voters' reaction to the president pivoting away from the far-left's push to defund police departments.
"This is the one moment that everybody came together and really agreed that… it was about time that he said this," the Maslansky + Partners president told co-host Ainsley Earhardt.
"So Democrats gave it an A, independents and Republicans both gave it a B."
"One person said at best," she continued. "He said, 'I'm glad… he said this. Defund the police is the stupidest slogan that the Democrats have dragged into the mix, and it's time to let it go.'"
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Some critics and fans alike on both sides of the political aisle praised the president for shying away from the progressives in the Democrat Party on the issue.
"We should all agree the answer is not to defund the police. It's to fund the police," Biden said. "Fund them. Fund them with resources and training. Resources and training they need to protect their community."
"I ask Democrats and Republicans alike to pass my budget and keep our neighborhoods safe," he continued.
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President Joe Biden delivers his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol, Tuesday, March 1, 2022, in Washington as Vice President Kamala Harris and House speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., look on. (Julia Nikhinson/Pool via AP) (Julia Nikhinson/Pool via AP)
Crime has been trending upward across the country, with murders up 44% in 2021 according to the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ).
Some of the cities that saw spikes in homicides include Detroit, Baltimore, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Austin.
Other forms of violent crime also spiked last year with an 8% increase in gun assaults, a 4% rise in aggravated assaults, and a 1% surge in robbery rates.
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