HILL STAFF VIEWS: Nearly Half of Aides Felt Unsafe Before National Guard Deployed in District of Columbia
(QUICK READ) — When President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to assist the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in fighting the high rate of crime there, it sparked an immediate and heated debate among congressional aides.
When CNCT Capitol Pulse surveyed Hill aides, 40 percent of the responding aides overall said they felt unsafe prior to the deployment of the National Guard. Another 27 percent of the respondents said they sometimes felt unsafe.
In other words, 67 percent of the respondents said they always felt unsafe or sometimes felt unsafe in D.C. Here’s the breakdown of the 40 percent of responses:
- 67 percent GOP Comms / 63 percent GOP Women
- 56 percent GOP / 10 percent DEM
- 15 percent DEM Ops / 13 percent DEM Women
And here’s the breakdown among the 27 percent who said they sometimes felt unsafe before Trump’s decision:
- 47 percent GOP Ops / 40 percent GOP Senate
- 33 percent GOP / 13 percent DEM
- 20 percent DEM Sr. Policy / 17 percent DEM Senate
On the other side, 33 percent of the respondents said they felt safe in D.C. prior to the National Guard deployment. The breakdown of these responses is almost exactly the opposite of those who felt unsafe:
- 83 percent DEM Men / 80 percent DEM House
- 77 percent DEM / 11 percent GOP
- 16 percent GOP Sr. Policy / 14 percent GOP Senate
The bottom line, according to the folks at CNCT Capitol Pulse, is that a respondent’s political “party largely decides how safe a person feels in D.C. Gender is also a significant factor, with women feeling less safe.”