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https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2023/05/portland-area-poll-finds-huge-appetite-for-tougher-tactics-on-homelessness.html

Portland-area poll finds huge appetite for tougher tactics on homelessness
Updated: May. 30, 2023, 4:09 p.m.|Published: May. 30, 2023, 12:39 p.m.
Aerial views of downtown portland
Dave Killen / The Oregonian

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By Shane Dixon Kavanaugh | The Oregonian/OregonLive
An overwhelming majority of Multnomah County voters say homelessness in
the Portland area is “an out-of-control disaster” and people in crisis
living on the streets should be required to undergo addiction or mental
health treatment.

Nearly three-fourths also back a proposal by Mayor Ted Wheeler to
enforce a citywide daytime camping ban, which is scheduled to receive a
public hearing at the City Council on Wednesday.

Those are among the findings of a poll commissioned by People for
Portland, an advocacy group that’s targeted local elected leaders and
demanded they take more aggressive action on homelessness, crime and
livability issues.

The poll surveyed 500 likely Multnomah County voters between May 19 and
23 and was conducted by GS Strategy Group, an Idaho-based firm with
longstanding ties to Republican candidates. It had a margin of error of
4.4 percentage points.

Seventy-five percent of the poll’s participants agreed with the
characterization of Portland-area homelessness as “an out-of-control
disaster,” including 71% of Democrats and 66% of those who
self-identified as liberal. Another 17% described the crisis as
“manageable but not great” while just 6% said they saw progress being made.

Only 25% of Multnomah County voters said that treatment for people
experiencing mental health or substance use disorder should be
voluntary; 67% believe “we need legal tools to encourage and compel
people to get help.”

And 71% said they support Wheeler’s proposal to ban people from pitching
tents on public land anywhere in the city between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. and
restrict camping around-the-clock near schools, shelters and more than a
dozen other locations.

Other notable findings from the survey:

*64% of Multnomah County voters believe county leaders should fund all
types of shelter programs, including those that require people to stay
off drugs and alcohol.

*55% believe “Portland has lost what made it a special place to live.”

*22% of poll participants approved of how Multnomah County District
Attorney Mike Schmidt, who is running for reelection next year, is
handling the job; 45% disapprove.

Longtime Oregon political consultants Dan Lavey and Kevin Looper
launched People for Portland in 2021. The group has since raised and
spent more than $1 million, primarily from a clutch of wealthy — and
mostly anonymous — donors.

It has placed ads on TV and online and directed a mass emailing campaign
to members of the Portland City Council, Multnomah County Board of
Commissioners, Metro Council and state lawmakers who represent Portland.

Earlier this spring, the group placed a large billboard ad near the
Morrison Bridge in downtown Portland criticizing Schmidt’s handling or
crime and prosecutions in Multnomah County and declaring the city “A
Schmidt Show!”

People for Portland, organized as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, isn’t required
to list the amounts of individual contributions or the names of its
donors. However, Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle and Harsch Investment
Real Estate CEO Jordan Schnitzer previously acknowledged to The
Oregonian/OregonLive that they’ve given money to the group.

Lavey and Looper also worked last year on former state Sen. Betsy
Johnson’s independent campaign for governor, which amassed substantial
financial support from an array of business, civic and political leaders

Some of the questions in People for Portland’s latest poll were clearly
tilted in the direction of its founders’ views on crime and homelessness
and that Portland-area leaders aren’t doing enough to fix them.

One of the questions, for example, reads:

“Multnomah County Commissioners will soon vote on their budget. But one
commissioner recently said despite spending almost $1 billion dollars
the past few years on homelessness, the county still has no homeless
plan or anyway to measure progress. Knowing this, which comes closer to
your opinion?”

Respondents were permitted to answer one of two ways:

“I agree - Multnomah County has no homeless plan and is wasting taxpayer
money.” (67%)

Or:

“I don’t agree - Multnomah County has a homeless plan and is making good
progress.” (16%)

See full poll results here.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh; 503-294-7632

Email at skavanaugh@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @shanedkavanaugh

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