President Trump declares spike in violence and high taxes give him a 'very good chance' of winning New York

President Donald Trump believes that he has a chance at winning New York, a state that has voted blue in the presidential election for more than three decades.

"But we're putting New York in play," President Trump told the New York Post on Thursday. "We're going to play it very strong and very hard. And we are going to try to win New York."

Trump is confident in his chances of beating presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in New York because of the spike in violence and high taxes. Trump said that in New York City "shootings are double, murders, everything has doubled and tripled. And I've heard numbers, 244 percent on some kinds of crimes. What is it 277 percent [for shootings]?"

According to official NYPD crime stats, 49 shootings took place in New York City between July 7 and July 12, nearly a 277% increase compared to the 13 incidents that happened during the same period in 2019. According to the NYPD, June of this year was the deadliest and most violent June in 24 years, totaling 205 shooting incidents.

"I think we have a very good chance," Trump said. "Who can be happy if you live in Manhattan and your taxes are going through the roof? And your quality of life is way down, and they're defunding the police?"

"I'll solve the crime problem. I'll solve their tax problem. I'll solve all their problems," Trump said. "Who would not vote for me?"

"We're going to look into SALT, we're going to look into crime, we're going to look into all of the things and solve the problems — of many problems that they have in New York," Trump added.

"I will bring down taxes and I'll make sure that New York City is a safe place," Trump claimed. "I mean, this is one of our cherished — this is a cherished diamond of this country. And we can't let this happen to New York."

Peter Ajemian, the communications director for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, reacted to the president's statements by saying, "President Trump needs to stop lying. All income tax rates are lower today than when Governor Cuomo took office — the only person who raised New York State taxes was Trump with SALT."

Trump said he would spend money to win New York, and he would make campaign stops in the Empire State.

Trump also said he believes he will win New Mexico and Minnesota. The president teased that he may make a push into New Jersey and "perhaps at Virginia because they have a very, very strange governor."

The Trump campaign is also hopeful to flip some congressional seats as well.

"The first thing I say is look at the congressional races, and New York, you've got at least three, four, maybe even five competitive seats," White House political director Brian Jack said. "And some of those seats the president carried by very wide margins. You look at New York 11, New York 19, there's quite a few opportunities in upstate as well."

"I think we can pick up what, five seats? And that's in addition to trying to win it," Trump added. "I think we can pick up a lot of seats."

Trump admitted that a Republican winning the state of New York would not be an easy task.

"Over the last six months what's happened is insane. It's insane. So we're going to try very hard to win New York and that will be the first time — is that since Ronald Reagan, I guess? Since Ronald Reagan," Trump stated.

Since 1960, a Republican presidential candidate has won New York three times: Richard Nixon in 1972 and Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984.

Hillary Clinton defeated Trump in the 2016 battle for New York by capturing 59% of the vote compared to Trump's 36%. Trump won 40 counties statewide to Hillary Clinton's 17. However, Clinton took a whopping 79% of the votes in New York City, easily defeating Trump in all boroughs except for Staten Island.

However, New York City has experienced a number of economic hardships during the coronavirus pandemic while under Democratic leadership, which could open the door for Trump to have more electoral success in the Big Apple.

The number of apartments for rent has more than doubled in the past year. There are over 13,000 empty apartments in New York City, the highest amount of inventory since appraisal and research company Miller Samuel kept tabs on the data.

New York City-based moving company Oz Moving told Fox Business they have seen an increase in quote requests of 30% year over year. United Van Lines said there was a 95% year over year increase of interest in moving out of Manhattan. Residents fleeing NYC were most interested in relocating to Florida, California, Texas, and North Carolina.

Since March, over 2,800 businesses in New York City have permanently closed, according to Yelp.

Partnership for New York City, a group of nearly 300 CEOs from New York City's top corporate, investment and entrepreneurial firms, warns that by the time the COVID-19 pandemic is over, one-third of the city's 240,000 small businesses could be gone forever.

Average asking rents along 16 vital retail corridors in Manhattan decreased for the 11th consecutive quarter, according to commercial real estate services firm CBRE.