Westneat: Partisan divide visited on Seattle

Seattle did OK overall, despite dropping 17 percentage points since 2006. We rank third, with 63 percent of Americans judging us safe. Dallas and Boston finished well ahead of us (only one of which is actually safer than Seattle, which I’ll get to in a minute).

But what boggles is the partisan divide in perceptions about Seattle. Democrats around the country still rank us as No. 1 safest place. In fact liberals’ shine for Seattle has only increased — going from 79 percent positive in 2006 to 85 percent today.

Republicans’ views of Seattle cratered, though, dropping from 81 percent who said it was safe in 2006 to only 42 percent today. The perception gap between the two parties, 43 points for Seattle, is tied with Los Angeles for the nation’s widest.

Why would more Democrats think Seattle is safe today? Why do Republicans rank Seattle the same as New Orleans — a city that last year had the highest murder rate in the nation at 10 times Seattle’s rate?

First, it’s vital to note that these are impressions being offered up by people who mostly don’t live in each city, and may never have visited it.

The pollsters said “the creation of the autonomous zone in Seattle” in the summer of 2020 most likely had an enduring negative effect on overall views of crime here. Mostly for Republicans, obviously — who can forget when Fox News dubbed us “Crazytown,” complete with photos of a firebombing that didn’t even happen here?

Or when a certain former presidential administration labeled our entire city an “anarchist jurisdiction?” I got a call back then from relatives asking about my safety; I was out in my yard picking tomatoes.

That said, crime has gone up markedly here since before the pandemic, as it did in many places. Context, though, is crucial. Seattle’s violent crime, up a lot since pre-pandemic, is still not that different today than the 711 per 100,000 rate recorded here back in 2006 — when 81 percent of Republicans told Gallup that Seattle was fine.

Today, the average gap has widened to nearly 30 percentage points. Democrats say most cities are safe; Republicans say few of them are. What’s actually happening with crime in each place can be irrelevant.

Take Dallas, the winner of this year’s poll. It has a homicide rate double Seattle’s and triple that of New York City.

Whether is was really the indelible autonomous zone or something else, the survey shows how Seattle has become one of the more polarizing cities in American culture.

There’s been a local social media meme this month that shows a fuzzy golden retriever on the left, labeled “Seattle.” On the right is a snarling werewolf, labeled “Seattle in the news.”

There’s some truth to this. The caricature of us as some egregious hellhole is conservative propaganda, and nakedly political. But we’re no golden retriever, either. When liberals pretend we are, it just makes it easier for city leaders to whistle away Seattle’s glaring problems.

The only city that has low crime rates and got high marks from both sides? Boston. I’m not sure what they’re doing so right — either in public safety or public relations. But Seattle should copy it.