JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A quarter of those surveyed for a recent University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Lab (PORL) poll said the most important problem facing Jacksonville is housing costs.
Among the 742 registered Duval County voters surveyed, crime came in a distant second as the top issue at 12%, followed by education, transportation and infrastructure, each with 9%. The economy and property taxes each received 8%.
“Voters are a lot more concerned over housing costs now than they were the last time we polled on Jacksonville’s most important problem, back in September of 2023,” PORL faculty director Dr. Michael Binder said in a news release about the poll results. “Historically, crime has been far and away the top response. Now in a distant second place across party lines, priorities seem to have shifted to the housing issues we’re seeing all over the state.”
Dr. Sean Freeder, UNF professor of political science, added some more context to the survey shift.
“The further shift toward economic concerns likely reflects not only pressing state and local concerns like homeowner’s insurance and housing supply, but also general national concerns about inflation and how key markets are reacting to the Trump administration’s tariff policies,” Freeder said.
The poll also included questions about various issues impacting the community.
Though 42% of Duval County’s revenue was garnered from property taxes, more than half of the participants wanted to eliminate property taxes in Florida, while 40% opposed the idea.
“People really don’t like paying taxes, especially in Florida. It’s no big shock that support is high for eliminating property taxes, even knowing that they made up almost half the city’s revenue last year,” Binder said.
Property tax relief has been an ongoing topic of conversation, with Gov. Ron DeSantis recently championing talks about eliminating property taxes.
“Political science research generally finds that the public broadly supports tax cuts, but also that most people don’t consider tradeoffs, such as lower spending or higher debts that would result, when answering these questions,” Freeder said.
Another community issue addressed in the survey was concealed firearms. Voters were asked if City Hall should be added to the list of specific locations where concealed firearms are prohibited.
A wide majority, 76%, said yes, while 23% said no.
“Support for banning concealed weapons from City Hall is high across party lines, with 83% of Democrats and 78% of independents, and even a sizable majority of Republicans (68%),” Binder said. “Although conservatives are generally more 2nd amendment-oriented, this lines up with what we saw in our 2023 Florida Statewide survey, which had 62% of registered Republicans opposed to the permitless carry bill that ultimately passed that year.”
The participants were also asked if they support or oppose the beaches -- Jacksonville, Neptune, and Atlantic Beach -- forming their own county separate from Duval County.
The results showed responses were evenly split between support and opposition. According to the PORL, more respondents strongly opposed the idea (29%) than strongly supported it (19%).
The city leaders tasked with addressing these issues and enhancing the city were also on the docket for an evaluation from voters.
Mayor Donna Deegan, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters, and State Attorney Melissa Nelson received nearly identical results compared to last year’s Jax Speaks Survey.
The majority of voters expressed approval for how Deegan was handling her job as mayor, with 61% overall (26% strongly approved and 36% somewhat approved), while 37% said they disapproved.
“Deegan’s approval ratings are high and consistent, still at 61% and down just 2% from about a year ago,” Freeder said. “This is fairly strong showing considering the ongoing anti-incumbent mood in the country, the significantly weaker approval of City Council, and Jacksonville’s low Democratic party identification compared to other major cities nationwide.”
Waters’ approval was 4% higher than Deegan’s, landing at 64% with 26% strongly approve and 38% somewhat approve.
For Nelson, 61% said they approved of her progress, and 29% said they disapprove.
Among elected officials, only the City Council had net negative approval. The results for approval rates of the Jacksonville City Council showed 42% of people approved, but 53% expressed disapproval.
“City Council is the notable exception to otherwise high approvals across the board,” Binder said. “Maybe voters are tired of the petty partisan squabbling we’ve seen recently, or maybe some Council members backed the wrong horse in the City Hall gun registry debacle.”
The survey was conducted from May 22 to May 30.
Click here to read the full results
