Polling by Issue

This polling summary highlights Missouri voters’ approval ratings of:

• President Donald Trump
• U.S. Congress
• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley
• U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt
• Gov. Mike Kehoe
• Missouri state legislature

Polling Summary on Approval Ratings

This polling summary highlights Missouri voters’ ratings of:

• U.S. economy
• Missouri economy
• Public schools in their community
• Public schools in Missouri
• Missouri roads and infrastructure
• Crime in their community
• Race relations in their community

Polling Summary on Issue Ratings

• 56% of Missouri voters think the Missouri state government should spend more to aid the poor (February 2026)
• 81% of Missouri voters support eliminating the state sales tax on groceries (February 2024) 
• 81% of Missouri voters support setting caps on insulin costs (February 2026)
• 57% of Missouri voters favor the Missouri state government funding prekindergarten education (August 2022)
• 62% of Missouri voters favor the policy that public schools must provide free meals to students, regardless of income (February 2025) 

Polling Summary on Aiding the Poor

• 39% of voters support state control over the St. Louis Police Department. 48% support local control.
• At least 57% of Democratic, Republican, and Independent voters support background checks for buying guns/firearms. 85% of voters support banning minors from carrying guns on public property without adult supervision.
• 10% or fewer voters support banning all guns, handguns, or hunting rifles.
• 56% of voters are worried about a shooting happening at public schools in Missouri.

Polling Summary on Guns and Public Safety

• 52% of Missouri voters prefer that the Missouri state government rely on sales taxes more than individual income taxes to raise revenue.  29% prefer income taxes to sales taxes (Feb. 2026 Poll)
• 52% of Missouri voters support eliminating the state income tax (Feb. 2025 Poll)
• 81% of Missouri voters support eliminating the state sales tax on groceries (Feb. 2024 Poll)
• 81% of Missouri voters agree that property taxes should not be raised for Missouri homeowners who are 62 years old or older (Feb. 2024 Poll)

Polling Summary on Taxes

• 47% of Missouri voters approve of how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is handling its job. 50% disapprove (Feb. 2026 Poll, MoE ±5.09)
• 75% of Missouri voters believe the U.S.-Mexican border situation is a crisis that needs to be resolved immediately (Feb. 2024 Poll).
• 22% of Missouri voters support colleges being allowed to consider an applicant’s race among other factors when making decisions on admissions (Aug. 2023 Poll).
• Using the term "critical race theory" matters for assessing public opinion. When asking a random subsample whether "schools should be allowed to teach critical race theory", 37% agreed.  When asking a different random subsample on the same survey whether "schools should be allowed to teach about how racism can exist in society and its institutions," 48% agreed. (June 2020 Poll). 

Polling Summary on Race and Immigration

• At least 60 percent of Democratic, Republican and Independent voters support abortion being legal in cases of rape, incest and when the woman’s life is endangered (Feb. 2026 Poll, Aug. 2022 Poll)
• 47 percent of voters support the proposed 2026 ballot initiative to add restrictions on who can receive an abortion in Missouri. 40 percent oppose. 12 percent are not sure. (Feb. 2026 Poll) 

Polling Summary on Abortion

• 63% of Missouri voters allowing the death penalty in cases of first-degree murder (February 2026 Poll)
• 78% of Missouri voters favor charging someone with first-degree murder if they knowingly distributed fentanyl to a person that caused that person's death (February 2025 Poll)
• 52% of Missouri voters favor the governor being allowed to change death penalty sentences to life in prison without parole (February 2024 Poll) 

Polling Summary on Death Penalty

• 23% of Missouri voters support allowing minors to receive gender affirming hormone therapy (February 2026 Poll)
• 56% of Missouri voters support same-sex marriage (August 2023 Poll)
• Fewer than 38% of Missouri voters support public school bans of books on gay, lesbian or transgender youth (August 2023 Poll)
• Fewer than 19% of Missouri voters support allowing public elementary schools to discuss sexual orientation or gender identity issues. Meanwhile, at least 51% of voters support allowing such discussion in high schools (August 2023 Poll)
• 18% of voters support allowing transgender student athletes to play on sports teams that match their gender identity, rather than the gender they were assigned at birth (August 2023 Poll) 

Polling Summary on LGBTQ+ Issues

This polling summary highlights Missouri voters' approval ratings on the costs of construction of professional sports facilities (e.g., stadiums and arenas).

Polling Summary on Stadium Funding

• Fewer than 38% of voters support schools being allowed to ban books with stories about gay or lesbian youth or transgender youth
• When asked if schools should be allowed to teach critical race theory, only 37% agreed.  However, when asked if schools should be allowed to teach about how racism can exist in society and its institutions, 48% agreed.
• Only 18% of voters favored public schools allowing discussion of sexual orientation issues with students in elementary schools. However, 56% of voters favored allowing such discussions in high schools.
• 18% of voters support allowing transgender student-athletes to play on sports teams that match their gender identity, rather than the gender they were assigned at birth.

Polling Summary on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

• Only 31% of Missouri voters support building data centers in the state of Missouri (February 2026 Poll)
• At least 70% of voters want to prohibit students’ access to cell phones in elementary, middle and high schools. (February 2025 Poll)
• Only 13% of voters believe that social media has had a positive impact on society. (February 2025 Poll)
• Most Missouri voters believe that a child should be at least 12 years old before being allowed to access social media.
• 71% of voters favor prohibiting the usage of artificial intelligence-generated content in political advertisements.

Polling Summary on Technology

• 55% of Missouri voters believe charter schools should be allowed to operate in their local district (February 2025 Poll).
• 57% of Missouri voters believe charter schools should be allowed to operate across the state (February 2026 Poll)
• 23% of Missouri voters correctly identify Missouri charter schools as public schools.

Polling Summary on Charter Schools

• 57% of Missouri voters support allowing students to enroll in public schools outside of the district where they live (February 2026 Poll)
• 83% of Missouri voters believe transferring students or their guardians should be responsible for transportation to and from nonresident districts (February 2024 Poll)
• 39% of Missouri voters support allowing school districts to opt out of having students transfer into their districts. 43% oppose (February 2024 Poll)
• 30% of Missouri voters support transferring more than half or all local tax revenue designated for a student’s education to the nonresident school district, where the student now attends school (February 2024 Poll) 

Polling Summary on Open Enrollment

• 45% of Missouri voters agree that the federal government should forgive up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt. 43% disagree (Aug. 2022 Poll).
• 64% of Missouri voters believe that tax-funded education savings accounts should be made available to students in households that earn up to $75,000 (250% of the federal poverty level) (Feb. 2024 Poll).

Polling Summary on Loans and Scholarships