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SLU/YouGov Poll: Voters Support Local Control of Police Departments, Prohibiting Cell Phone and Social Media Access in Schools

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03/18/2025

Trump and U.S. Congress Receive Highest Approval Ever Recorded in the SLU/YouGov Poll 

ST. LOUIS - The February 2025 SLU/YouGov Poll surveyed 900 likely Missouri voters about their opinions regarding public safety, technology in schools, state income taxes, Missouri education issues, and matters considered by the Missouri state government.

Key Public Safety Findings

Key Technology Findings

Key National Political Findings

Key Missouri Political Findings

The margin of error for the full survey sample is ± 3.64%. Top-line survey results can be found here. Results with demographic and party cross-tabs can be found here.

Public Safety and State Control Over Policy Departments: House Bill 495

The Missouri state legislature passed a key part of Governor Mike Kehoe’s legislative agenda: public safety bill HB 495. The bill, which grants state control over the St. Louis City Police Department, passed with a 113-39 vote in the state house. The SLU/YouGov Poll, however, found that only 39% of likely voters support state control of the St. Louis City police department, while 47% prefer local control. Kansas City’s police department is already under state control, yet only 35% of Missouri voters support that arrangement, with 48% favoring local governance. When asked about their “local police department,” 68% of voters preferred local control, 22% preferred state control, and 11% were not sure.

HB 495 also included fentanyl and immigration provisions, which have more support from voters. The bill increases penalties for those who endanger a child with fentanyl, mandating a minimum prison sentence of five years (See bill summary here). When asked, “Do you favor or oppose the following policy: Imprisoning someone for 5 to 10 years if their manufacturing or possession of fentanyl endangers a child?,” 87% of voters expressed support, while 4% opposed and 8% were not sure.

“Gov. Kehoe campaigned on addressing the fentanyl crisis in Missouri,” said Steven Rogers, Ph.D., SLU/YouGov Poll Director and associate professor of political science at Saint Louis University. “In his first State of the State Address, Kehoe said, ‘If a drug dealer sells fentanyl that kills a Missourian, they should be charged with first-degree murder. Period.’ And our polling found that 78% of Missouri voters support charging individuals with first-degree murder if they knowingly distribute fentanyl that results in a person’s death.”

HB 495 includes an immigration provision that requires all Missouri law enforcement agencies to report the immigration status of criminal offenders to the Department of Public Safety. When asked, “Do you favor or oppose the following policy: Requiring law enforcement agencies to report criminal offenders’ citizenship status to the Missouri Department of Public Safety?,” 68% of voters expressed support, while 18% opposed and 13% were not sure.

For more on past public safety findings, see the SLU/YouGov Poll Public Safety Issue Summary. 

Technology in Society

Computers, smartphones, and artificial intelligence have dramatically changed society over the last 40 years, but Missouri voters have mixed views on these technological advancements. Seventy-nine percent of Missouri voters believe that personal computers have had a more positive than negative impact on society. Support, however, drops significantly for newer technologies, with only 52% of voters viewing smartphones and 13% of voters viewing social media as having a net positive impact on society.

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley has aimed to limit the influence of social media. In the last Congress, Hawley introduced the No TikTok on United States Devices Act, which would effectively ban TikTok nationwide. When asked, 46% of Missouri voters said they favored federal restrictions on social media platforms owned by foreign countries, such as TikTok, 34% were opposed, and 20% were not sure. Hawley also introduced the MATURE Act, which would set a minimum age of 16 for social media use. However, Missouri voters, on average, believe that children as young as 12 years old should be allowed to access social media.

State lawmakers have pushed to regulate new technologies. State Representative Ben Baker and State Senator Joe Nicola have each proposed legislation (HB 2628 and SB 509) that would require campaign materials distributed within 90 days of an election to include a disclaimer if they contain “digitally altered or generated media.” Missouri voters strongly support such measures, with 84% favoring a requirement for political advertisements to disclose the use of AI-generated content, and 75% of voters support the prohibition of artificial intelligence-generated content in political advertisements.

Laptops, Tablets, and Cell Phones in the Classroom

Missouri voters believe students should be exposed to technology in the classroom during their public school experience. Eighty percent of Missouri voters favor “Missouri public schools providing each student a personal laptop or tablet computer to use in the classroom for education purposes in high schools.” However, only 44% of voters favored public schools providing elementary school students with laptops or tablet computers, and 43% opposed.

“Our poll found interesting demographic differences regarding public schools providing students with laptops or tablets,” said Ashley Burle, Ph.D., associate director of the Saint Louis University/YouGov Poll and interim director of graduate admissions for Saint Louis University’s School of Education. “Only 40% of white voters believe elementary school students should receive tablets or laptops, compared to 72% of African American voters who support such policies. However, support for these programs shows little variation across income groups.”

Cell phones in classrooms are much less popular with Missouri voters. Providing support for bipartisan legislation to restrict cell phone usage in schools (HB 408), at least 70% of Missouri voters favor prohibiting cell phones during regular instructional activities in elementary, middle, and high schools. HB408 would have Missouri join at least eight states that have passed laws, issued orders, or adopted rules to curb phone use among students at school (The New York Times, August 11, 2024).  

Voters support media literacy education and limits on social media access in schools

At least 81% percent of Missouri voters favor prohibiting students from accessing social media on school networks without teacher permission. In response to concerns about the negative effects of new technologies, Representative Jim Murphy introduced the “Media Literacy and Critical Thinking Act,” which would establish a pilot program in Missouri schools to help students identify online misinformation, understand the purpose and proper use of social media, and recognize its potential negative effects on mental health. The SLU/YouGov Poll found broad support for these initiatives, with at least 76% of Missouri voters favoring these components of the proposed legislation (margin of error 5.01%).

Voters High on Trump and Congress

The February 2025 SLU/YouGov Poll found that 56% of Missouri likely voters approve of Donald Trump’s performance as president, which is the highest approval rating for any political figure recorded by the SLU/YouGov Poll since its inception in 2020. The previous record holders were Josh Hawley and former Governor Mike Parson at 53% in August 2024.

“This approval percentage is slightly lower than the percentage Trump won in the presidential election in Missouri (58%),” said Ken Warren, Ph.D., associate director of the SLU/YouGov Poll and a professor emeritus of political science at SLU. “The partisan polarization was starker than for the other Republicans we polled in our 2025 survey. While 97% of Republicans approved Trump’s job performance, only 3% of Democrats approved of it, and less than half of Independents approved.” 

More voters also approved of the U.S. Congress more than in any previous SLU/YouGov Poll. Forty-one percent of voters approved of the U.S. Congress’s performance, a 15% increase from the August 2024 SLU/YouGov Poll. Despite this higher approval, 49% of voters still disapprove of the U.S. Congress’s performance (margin of error 5.28%).

“Now Republicans control D.C. politics with Republicans controlling the presidency and both Houses of Congress,” said Warren. “Consequently, Missouri’s predominantly Republican electorate would expectedly be more apt to approve of what Republicans are doing in D.C.”

Other Political Actors Approval Ratings:

For more on historical trends in approval ratings, see the SLU/YouGov Poll Approval Summary.

U.S. Department of Education

The U.S. Department of Education (DoE) announced on March 11 that it was cutting more than 1,300 workers, amid the Trump administration’s calls to eliminate the Department entirely (The New York Times, March 11, 2025). Fifty-two percent of Missouri voters, however, oppose eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, while 41% support it, and 8% are not sure. Twenty-one percent of Republicans and 93% of Democrats oppose eliminating the Department.

Missouri voters, however, have mixed knowledge of the DoE’s responsibilities. The SLU/YouGov Poll asked Missouri voters about which federal agencies oversee various federal programs. Respondents were given a list of programs and asked whether they are primarily managed by the Department of Education, the Department of Agriculture, or the Department of Health and Human Services.

Voter knowledge varied across programs: 73% correctly identified the DoE as responsible for federal student aid, 59% for federal special education funding (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), and 62% for federal funding supporting low-income schools (i.e., Title I). However, 60% incorrectly believed the DoE runs the Head Start program (which is overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services), and 29% mistakenly thought it manages free and reduced-price school lunch programs, which fall under the Department of Agriculture.

Missouri Voters Support Eliminating the State Income Tax 

In his State of the State address, Governor Mike Kehoe called to “eliminate the individual [state] income tax once and for all.” According to the SLU/YouGov Poll, 52% of Missouri likely voters support eliminating the state income tax, while 25% oppose and 23% remain unsure. Support for tax elimination remains relatively consistent across income groups. Among voters earning less than $50,000 per year, 52% favor elimination, compared to 56% of those earning between $50,000 and $100,000, and 49% of those making over $100,000.

“Voters unsurprisingly do not want to be taxed, but a big question is how does the state government replace that revenue,” said Rogers. “When we asked voters, 46% said they were not sure.”

Democrats Support Hawley’s Proposal to Increase the Childcare Tax Credit

In January 2025, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley proposed in the U.S. Senate to increase the federal child tax credit (CTC) from $2,000 to $5,000. When asked by the SLU/YouGov Poll, 54% of voters agreed that the CTC should be raised to $5,000. 20% disagreed, and 27% were not sure (margin of error 5.28%). 70% of Democrats supported Hawley’s position, while only 46% of Republicans did. 49% of Independent voters supported raising the CTC.

“Hawley was one of three U.S. Senate Republicans to vote for the 2024 bipartisan tax package, which included an increased Child Tax Credit,” said Rogers. “During COVID-19, the Child Tax Credit was temporarily raised from $2,000 to $3,600, and child poverty fell to its lowest level on record in 2021.”

Student Health: Vaccines, Lunches, and School Start Times

The SLU/YouGov Poll found majorities of voters support policies that would lead to healthier students in the state of Missouri. For instance, following the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination rates for diseases such as polio and measles have dropped in the United States. In 2011 - 2012, the CDC estimated that 97% of Missouri kindergartners had received the polio vaccine. However, this figure falls to 91% in 2023 – 2024. When asked by the SLU/YouGov Poll, 12% of Missouri voters opposed requiring public school students to receive the polio vaccine, and 76% supported this requirement.

Public health research provides evidence that free lunches reduce rates of poor health and obesity in students (e.g., Gunderson, Kreider, and Pepper 2012). During the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government temporarily provided free school lunches to all Missouri public school students. Since then, support for universal free school meals has grown. In August 2022, an SLU/YouGov Poll found that 53% of Missouri voters favored providing free meals to all students, regardless of income. By February 2025, support had risen to 62%, with 22% opposed and 16% unsure.

Voters also believe that high school start times should be later, which would lead to more adequate sleep for high schools students. The Saint Louis University PRiME Center found that the average high school start time in Missouri was 7:48am. However, when asked what time they thought high schools in their district should start, voters on average said schools should start 23 minutes later at 8:09 a.m. An 8:09 a.m. start time would be closer to the CDC’s recommendation that schools start at 8:30 a.m. or later.  

Voters believe the nation and state are on the right track, but the economy is not

In February 2025, 51% of voters agreed with the statement that “The United States is on the right track and headed in a good direction,” and 47% of voters agreed that “The State of Missouri is on the right track and headed in a good direction” (margin of error 5.28%). Each is a record high in the history of the SLU/YouGov Poll. Older voters more often agreed with these statements, and at least 62% more Republicans than Democrats agreed with each of these statements.

Despite more positive views about the direction of the state and nation, voters continue to be frustrated by the economy. Similar to findings from the August 2024 SLU/YouGov Poll, 47% of voters stated in February 2025 that the economy should be the top priority of the Missouri state government. However, 77% of voters rated the state economy as Fair or Poor, a 6% increase since August, and 84% of voters rated the national economy as Fair or Poor, a 15% increase since August 2024.

“Voters continue to be displeased with the economy, but there are important partisan differences in voters’ responses,” said Rogers. “In August 2024, 40% of Democrats and 89% percent of Republicans rated the national economy as Fair or Poor. In February 2025, these respective numbers are 84% and 83%, reflecting a 44% change by Democrats and a 6% change by Republicans in opposite directions.”

Most Missouri voters rate crime in their community as Fair or Poor (53%), but perceptions have slightly improved since the February 2024 SLU/YouGov Poll. Five percent more voters now rate crime in their community as Excellent or Good. Similarly, three percent more voters view race relations in their community positively.

Concerns about public education in Missouri remain high but have improved since February 2024. Sixty-six percent of voters now rate Missouri public schools as Fair or Poor, a 7% decrease from February 2024. Ratings of roads and infrastructure also remain low, though there has also been a slight improvement. Twenty-three percent of voters rate Missouri’s roads and infrastructure as Excellent or Good (margin of error: 5.01%), a 3% increase from the February 2024 poll (margin of error: 5.25%).

For complete comparisons of ratings over the history of the SLU/YouGov Poll, see the Polling by Issue section on the SLU Poll website.

Methodology and Funding

YouGov interviewed 900 likely Missouri voters between February 18 and March 2, 2025. The YouGov panel, a proprietary opt-in survey panel, is comprised of 3.1 million United States residents who have agreed to participate in YouGov Web surveys. Using their gender, age, race, and education, YouGov weighted the set of survey respondents to known characteristics of Missouri voters from the American Community Survey (ACS) public use microdata file, public voter file records, the 2020 Current Population Survey (CPS) Voting and Registration supplements, the 2020 National Election Pool (NEP) exit poll, and the 2020 CES surveys, including demographics and 2020 presidential vote. The margin of error for the weighted data is 3.64%. 

The February 2025 SLU/YouGov Poll was funded by the PRiME Center in SLU’s School of Education.

About YouGov

Saint Louis University has partnered with YouGov to conduct its annual survey of Missouri voters. YouGov conducts surveys for multiple academic institutions and is the primary, trusted survey firm for media organizations, including CBS News and The Economist. An independent Pew Research Center study of online survey firms in 2016 further concluded that YouGov “consistently outperforms competitors.”

About Saint Louis University

Founded in 1818, Saint Louis University is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Catholic institutions. Rooted in Jesuit values and its pioneering history as the first university west of the Mississippi River, SLU offers more than 15,200 students a rigorous, transformative education of the whole person. At the core of the University’s diverse community of scholars is SLU’s service-focused mission, which challenges and prepares students to make the world a better, more just place.