By Ken Warren, Ph.D., SLU/YouGov Poll Associate Director
In our February 2023 SLU/YouGov Poll, we wanted to know how Missouri’s likely voters felt about a variety of newsworthy issues. When asked about what they considered the top priority for Missouri state government, focusing on the economy was mentioned first (44%), followed by education (18%), health care (17%), and infrastructure (15%). Since only 20% of Missouri’s likely voters in another question rated Missouri’s economy as “good” (18%) to “excellent” (2%), it is understandable that a large plurality prioritized the economy above other public policy concerns. Republicans were much more likely to say the economy should be Missouri’s top priority than Democrats, 64% to 26%. Democrats were more likely to rate health care and education as a top priority compared to Republicans, 26% to 7% and 23% to 11% respectively.
Only twenty-one percent of Missouri’s likely voters rated public schools in the State of Missouri as “good” (22%) to “excellent” (1%) with 42% saying “fair” and 27% answering “poor”, while they just 16% rated “roads and infrastructure” “good” (15%) to “excellent” (1%). When asked to rate the following in their community, they rated “good” to “excellent” race relations (43%), public schools (37%), and crime (35%),
A question that has attracted a lot of media attention nationwide, as well as in Missouri, has been: “Should parents of students have the right to object to the instructional materials used in their child’s classroom?” Sixty-two percent of Missouri’s likely voters “agreed”, 26% “disagreed”, and 12% answered “not sure”. Republican leaders have pushed for parental control over subject matter taught, as well as educational materials used in the classroom, so it was not surprising to find that Republican respondents were much more likely than Democrats to “agree”, 86% to 32% respectively. Those with lower educational levels were also more likely to “agree” than those with higher educational achievement. In fact, a perfect pattern was found; 78% of those with only a high school education said they “agree”, 60% with “some college”, 52% with a “college degree”, and 45% with those with post-graduate education.
We also asked respondents whether “betting on collegiate and professional sports should be legalized in Missouri?” A slight plurality opposed the idea (41%) with 35% favoring the idea, but a fairly large percentage, 24%, were “not sure”. Republicans were more likely to oppose making betting on collegiate and professional sports legal in Missouri than Democrats, 44% to 35% respectively. The Kansas City metro likely voters were the most in favor of the idea (47%), followed by the St. Louis metro likely voters (41%) with rural area likely voters the least favorable to the idea (NE MO, 33%, SE MO, 26%, and SW MO, 20%).
Recently, controversy has taken place in Missouri over what percentage of the vote should be required to amend the state’s constitution via a ballot initiative, so we asked Missouri likely voters what percentage it should take. Thirteen percent said it should take 50% of the votes, 22% said it should take 60% of the votes, 33% said 66%, and 15% said that “voters should not be able to amend the state constitution via an initiative”. Republicans were more in favor of making it more difficult to amend Missouri’s constitution with 37% favoring requiring a 66% majority compared to 25% for Democrats with 17% of Republican likely voters saying that “voters should not be able to amend the state constitution via an initiative” compared to only 9% for Democrats. These poll results were not surprising since Republicans hold every statewide office and dominate the Missouri legislature , thus controlling public policy making in Missouri. Consequently, they do not want Democrats doing an “end-run” around them via the initiative process as they did with the initiative that passed Medicaid expansion in August 4, 2020, 53.3% to 46.7%, against the wishes of Republican politicians in Jefferson City.
Currently, Missouri’s Sunshine Act allows the public to make requests for government documents such as meeting records, public officials’ communications, etc. Governor Parson, as well as other Republicans, are thinking of making changes to the Sunshine law to limit public access to certain documents. We asked in our SLU/YouGov Poll whether likely Missouri voters favor or oppose certain changes. Sixteen percent favored limiting public access to drafts of proposed legislation with 67% opposed; 44% favored permitting redaction of names and emails of citizens making requests for communications with 32% opposed; and 27% favored adding fees for the time it takes custodians of records to redact documents with 48% opposed. Republicans were more in favor of these proposed changes than Democrats, although both Republicans and Democrats were strongly opposed to limiting public access to drafts of proposed legislation, but a greater percentage of Democrats were opposed than Republicans, 70% to 57%.
Disturbing gun violence in the United States, gun deaths, and mass shootings have caused gun control advocates to propose all sorts of gun control reforms, but proponents of gun rights have not been so supportive of reforms. We wanted to see how Missouri’s likely voters stood on various gun control measures, so we asked a series of questions. Likely Missouri voters favored the following gun-related bans, except to those that are issued to law enforcement officers. Only 7% supported a ban on the sale of all guns, with 85% saying “do not ban”; 10% favored banning the sale of all handguns with 83% saying “do not ban”; just 6% favored a ban on the sale of all hunting rifles with 88% responding “do not ban”; 39% supported banning the sale of magazine clips for semi-automatic weapons with 49% saying “do not ban”, and 39% supported the ban of semi-automatic weapons with 50% saying “do not ban”
Although most of Missouri’s likely voters in our SLU/YouGov Poll opposed banning the sale of guns or magazine clips for semi-automatic weapons, they were more supportive of various gun control measures. A strong majority, 79%, favored requiring criminal background checks for all those buying guns, including gun shows and private sales; 69% favored requiring mental health background checks for all those buying guns, including gun shows and private sales; 69% favored requiring people to be at least 21 years old before purchasing a gun; 60% favored requiring people who purchase handguns to wait 72 hours before they receive that gun; and 60% favored red flag laws that allow a court to temporarily remove guns from people that are believed to pose a danger to themselves or others. Despite Missouri’s likely voters favoring many gun law reforms, Missouri has passed very few gun control laws. Missouri ranks fourth in least restrictive gun control measures, receiving an F grade (Wisevoter) with the third highest gun death rate (World Population Review).
