We’re excited to release the next round of our annual “Idaho Family Policy Poll” results—this time focused on drugs, human trafficking, and adult website age verification.
This scientific public opinion poll – commissioned by Idaho Family Policy Center – utilized a large, representative sample of likely Idaho voters. Respondents were contacted by landline using interactive voice response (IVR) technology.
If you missed our email yesterday covering the results regarding the LGBT agenda in schools, you can catch up by clicking here. And be sure to stay tuned for our final email tomorrow, where we’ll shed light on what voters think about Idaho’s abortion laws!
1. Idaho voters overwhelmingly support laws requiring pornography websites to verify the age of users.
The internet pornography website Pornhub made headlines by announcing it would block web traffic from several U.S. states that require age verification for adult website visitors.
Legislatures in seven states – including Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Texas, Utah, and Virginia – have passed laws requiring pornography websites to verify the identity and age of users before granting access to sexual content. Following the implementation of the Louisiana law, Pornhub web traffic in the state dropped by 80 percent, according to a statement from the website.
Not only are these age verification laws proving effective at protecting children from pornographic websites, but they also garner huge levels of support (85%) from likely Idaho voters—including both self-identified conservatives (93%) and liberals (74%).
2. Large numbers of Idaho voters oppose taxpayer-funded needle exchange programs.
Members of the Idaho Legislature engaged in a high-profile fight earlier this year over the future of intravenous needle exchange programs for users of illegal drugs.
Legislators ultimately redirected grant money away from activist nonprofits like the Idaho Harm Reduction Project, which had historically administered the program. However, they failed to repeal the program entirely, leaving in place the safer syringe program that had been created in 2019.
Similar needle exchange programs have devastated communities in progressive states like Washington and California. With that in mind, it’s understandable that large numbers of likely Idaho voters (65%) believe that our state should abandon its commitment to subsidizing illicit drug use.
3. A supermajority of Idaho voters want increased criminal penalties for prostitution as a means of reducing human sex trafficking.
Human trafficking isn’t only occurring in developing nations halfway across the world. It’s also cropping up here in Idaho—where hundreds of vulnerable women and children are exploited every year.
One meaningful next step would include increasing criminal penalties for the customers (not the victims) of human trafficking. This important reform garners support from nearly 74% of potential Idaho voters—including 52% of self-identified liberals.
4. Most Idaho voters support legislative efforts to adopt mandatory minimum prison sentencing for fentanyl drug dealers.
Fentanyl is killing more Americans than any other illegal drug in US history, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That sobering fact raises the question: Why is fentanyl missing from the list of drugs triggering mandatory minimum sentences for drug traffickers?
More than 78% of likely Idaho voters – including 86% of conservatives and 62% of liberals – want to see legislative action on this issue.
