(NewsNation) — Republicans are hoping that their promise to get tough on crime will resonate with voters in the upcoming midterm election.
Campaign ads — such as this one attacking Democrat Mandela Barnes, who is running for Senate in Wisconsin — are typical in the weeks leading up to the election.
Guy Reschenthaler, representing the 14th District of Pennsylvania, said “we need a nation that’s safe,” during the rollout of Republicans’ “Commitment to America” event Friday.
Similarly, Rep. Jim Jordan recently told “Fox and Friends” that “we went from safe streets to record crime.”
Then there’s GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who ran this ad attacking her challenger, Christina Bohannan. Hoping to stay in Iowa’s second district, she is focusing on the rise in crime that state has experienced.
According to AdImpact — an ad-tracking firm that monitors political spots on network TV — Republicans aired an estimated 53,000 commercials on crime, up from the 29,000 crime ads they aired during August.
All this comes as Democrats are spending an unprecedented amount on ads highlighting their support for abortion rights — an amount larger than the ad dollars Republican have been spending on the economy, crime and immigration combined.
And that may be working, especially in Pennsylvania, where NewsNation spoke to some Republican women who say they’re voting for Democrats in November because of the Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade in its Dobbs decision.
“I think some things have changed recently where I would vote Democrat because of that,” one Pennsylvania voter said. “I know I have a lot of Republican friends who feel the same way.”
And while recent polls haven’t shown crime as the number one issue for voters, according to a Marquette Law School poll in early September, the issue was second only to inflation. It’s part of the reason why Republicans feel it’s an issue they can build and win on.
“You have to believe that the Republicans have got some polling and some information that shows that this potentially could be an issue on which Republicans and Democrats can agree,” said Lisa Camooso Miller, a GOP strategist.