In the good old days they were carefree children that were shielded from the terrible things happening in the world.

Looking at election results, the vast majority of Republican voters live in rural or at least suburban areas. Those feature both low population densities and isolation. This can make the crime rate in instances of violent crime per year low compared to an urban area with the same crime rate per capita. It also means that when someone does her killed, The average distance in feet (or miles) from the crime scene to your house is larger. This can affect perception of crime a lot