Voters in Wisconsin Weigh in on Homelessness
POLL RESULTS
1. Do you think homelessness in Wisconsin is increasing, decreasing, or staying about the same?
2. Do you think homeless encampments on streets and in other public places pose a threat to public safety?
3. How often do you avoid areas where individuals are living in tents on the streets and in other public places?
4. What do you think is the biggest root cause of homelessness: addiction and mental illness or lack of good-paying jobs and affordable housing?
5. Do you think it is more compassionate to allow homeless individuals to set up camp wherever they choose or to move them into available shelters?
6. Do you think homeless individuals have a right to camp on the streets or in public places when there are shelter options available?
7. Should Wisconsin prohibit camping on streets and in other public places?
8. Would you be more likely to support a ban on public camping if you knew that more than one in four homeless Wisconsin men are registered sex offenders?
9. Would you be more likely to support a ban on street camping if there were increased access to homeless shelters and camps with security, sanitation, and medical treatment that is away from residential areas?
10. Would you support or oppose requiring cities to enforce bans on street camping as a condition of receiving increased homelessness alleviation funding?
11. Would you support or oppose requiring the state to audit taxpayer-funded homeless service providers for how they spend their money?
12. Would you support or oppose requiring taxpayer-funded homeless service providers to track their program outcomes and then report the results to the state?
13. Would you be more likely to support homeless service provider reporting if you knew it could help the state to direct funding toward the most successful programs?
14. Wisconsin focuses most of its homelessness alleviation spending on taxpayer-subsidized permanent housing. Would you support or oppose redirecting some of that funding toward emergency shelters that provide temporary housing?
15. Would you support or oppose redirecting a portion of homelessness alleviation funding toward mental health and addiction treatment?
16. Would you support or oppose requiring homeless individuals to participate in addiction and mental health treatment as a condition of receiving taxpayer-funded housing?
17. Would you support or oppose establishing a drug-free zone around facilities that serve homeless individuals?
Results for this poll were collected using a sampling frame that gathered responses from 1,005 likely Wisconsin voters during live calls, online panels, and automated telephone interviews conducted by Cor Strategies, Inc.
The survey was conducted January 19–23, 2025. The margin of sampling error is ±2.95 percentage points. The margin of sampling error may be higher or lower for subgroups. Results presented may not always appear to total 100 percent due to rounding.
Data were post-stratified using weighted demographic information from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey Voting and Registration Supplement and the state election authorities.
Demographic information for actual voters in past elections was used to construct sample target weights.
Cicero Institute paid for all costs associated with this survey.
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