UH poll shows voters' concerns ahead of mayoral election
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Ahead of the November elections, likely voters remain concerned about crime and overall support some of the policies to reduce crime in the city, according to a University of Houston survey released Wednesday.
Why it matters: The UH Hobby School of Public Affairs poll reveals likely voters' concerns and perspectives on policy issues as candidates approach the final stretch before the election.
Of note: The survey was conducted between Sept. 30 and Oct. 6, with 800 respondents and a 3.5% margin of error.
What they found: Nearly three-fourths of likely voters noted crime as one of the three most important problems facing Houston, and crime retained its position as the foremost policy priority for the next mayor, mirroring the findings of the summer poll.
- Voters also said bad roads (47%), rising property taxes (36%), homelessness (30%), flooding (30%) and economic inequality (26%) were among the city's top three most critical issues.
Go deeper: When asked about proposed policies aimed at addressing crime issues — such as using Texas Department of Public Safety troopers, hiring additional police officers, bolstering behavioral health programs, and improving relationships with the African American and Latino communities — 60% to 80% of likely voters expressed support.
- These policy ideas stemmed from what mayoral candidates said during the campaign trail, Mark Jones, a co-author of the report, tells Axios.
The intrigue: There was a stark difference in partisanship regarding partnering with DPS to deploy 200 Texas state troopers to assist in street patrols, with 63% of Republicans strongly in support, compared to only 30% of Democrats.
- There was also a partisan divide with hiring an additional 600 HPD officers to match the per capita staffing of Los Angeles — where 80% of Republicans strongly supported versus 54% of Democrats.
- Meanwhile, a greater proportion of Black likely voters supported allocating funds for mental health professionals to respond to mental health calls and improving relationships between HPD and the Black and Latino communities than white and Latino likely voters.
What they're saying: "What we found with a lot with the Houston population, it's really helpful not to look only at race or ethnicity and partisanship alone, but to look at them combined—that's very helpful to understand crime," Jones says. "Republicans are pretty homogenous in terms of how they all prioritize crime. But Democrats differ significantly."
- "White Democrats, in many ways, are an outlier in the city of Houston. On many issues, Black Democrats and white Republicans and Latino Republicans are closer in terms of their preferences than they are white Democrats," he says.
Context: This report follows a UH poll from last week that indicated that Texas Sen. John Whitmire and U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee remained frontrunners, with Whitmire still poised for a lead in a likely runoff.
What's next: Early voting is from Oct. 23 to Nov 3. Election Day is Nov. 7.