Will crime have an impact on Texas voters in the 2024 election?

Candidates have campaigned on crime concerns in Texas and across the country, but recent polls show public safety is not as high on the list of priorities as other issues for voters.

When you ask voters what issues matter most in this election, a majority will say the economy or the border.

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Others will say abortion rights or democracy.

According to a poll done by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas, crime didn't make the list of eight priorities.

While it is not the top priority, many are also concerned about crime.

Tarleton State University Criminologist Alex del Carmen says that in Texas, property crime is going down, and violent crime is a bit higher.

On a national level, property crime is down and violent crime has remained steady.

"We're now counting crime in a different way. And what I mean by that is just that we're now counting every instance where a crime is committed, whereas before we were not. So the trends are really subject to interpretation," said del Carmen.

Some of the crime concerns in the Lone Star State is tied to illegal border crossings.

Republicans have campaigned on American cities being more dangerous due to violent immigrants.

"I would love to see the data that they're citing, because there is absolutely no substantive data that we can look at that can trace it one way or another. Now, having said that, we've seen in recent months in the Metroplex where you've had instances where undocumented individuals have been responsible for violent crime, and of course, those receive a great deal of national attention," said del Carmen.

Regardless of who wins the election, del Carmen thinks crime will continue to be a local and national issue, but says it won't be because of stats.

"I think the general sentiment, regardless of the crime data, is that people are feeling less and less safe in their communities," he said.