POLL: Majority of Americans Believe the Country’s Homeless Problem is Worsening
Jose Nino
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In a recently published Rasmussen poll, 87% of American Adults believe homelessness is a serious problem in the United States. This includes 61% who indicated that the problem is very serious. Only 9% don’t believe homelessness is a serious problem.
64% of voters believe that, in the last two years, America’s homelessness problem has worsened. Only 12% believe the homelessness problem has improved in the past two years, whereas 18% indicated the problem has roughly stayed the same.
36% of Americans believe homelessness should be primarily a state responsibility, while 18% and 30% believe it should be a local and federal responsibility, respectively. 16% are unsure about what level of government should tackle the homelessness question.
40% of Democrats voters, 22% of Republican voters, and 26% of independent voters believe homelessness should mainly be a federal responsibility. 41% of Republican voters, 28% of Democrat voters, and 39% of independent voters believe states should be primarily tasked with dealing with homelessness. By contrast, 23% of Republican voters, 15% of Democrat voters, and 17% of the independent voters view homelessness as mainly a local responsibility.
57% of Democrat voters, 64% of Republican voters, and 62% of independent voters view homelessness as a very serious problem.
26% of Democrat voters believe America’s homelessness problem has improved in the past two years. However, just 4% of Republican voters and 6% of independent voters are in agreement. 77% of Republican voters, 46% of Democrat voters, and 71% of independent voters believe the homelessness problem has worsened in the last two years.
Americans making over $200,000 annually are less likely to view homelessness as a very serious problem, and more likely to believe it’s improved over the past two years.
The US’s homelessness problem is due to public policies that have gutted mental health institutions, thereby leaving many people who should be institutionalized out on the streets to wither away. Moreover, it does not help that the US’s economic system is burdened by heavy regulations and inflationary monetary policies, which contribute to large cost of living problems that price out many Americans of humbler economic stature from basic housing.
Ultimately, the US will need to get its house in order on all fronts if it wants to leave behind a stable socio-economic environment for future generations to enjoy.
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