(Center of the American Experiment) — On average, an automobile is stolen every hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the state’s largest city.
According to the Minneapolis crime dashboard, 4,125 cars have been stolen in the city, year to date (through June 13). That’s almost double the number of cars stolen (2,129) at this same point last year.
June 13 marks the 164th day of the year, so that works out to 25.2 cars per day, or more than one per hour.
It’s no wonder that our exclusive Thinking Minnesota opinion poll shows that large majorities of Minnesotans are concerned about crime. Our most recent poll (conducted May 21-23) asked this question: How concerned are you personally about the level of crime here in Minnesota?
77 percent said they were concerned, with only 22 percent saying that they were unconcerned. The results were consistent across the political spectrum. Of Republicans, 89 percent indicated concern, 78 percent of independents and 66 percent of Democrats.
Results have been remarkably lopsided over the past two years that we have asked this question. Concerns about crime are now baked into the electorate.
The poll included 500 respondents. Half were interviewed via cell phone, half were interviewed via landline. Demographics of respondents matched the state overall.
WCCO reports that many of the stolen cars are never recovered and are winding up overseas.
Bill Glahn
Bill Glahn is an Adjunct Policy Fellow with Center of the American Experiment.
