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SLU/YouGov Poll: Governor Kehoe to Sign Public Safety Bill Amid Voter Concerns Over State Police Control

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03/26/2025

Large Majorities of Voters Support Bill’s Tougher Fentanyl and Immigration Provisions

Governor Mike Kehoe said in his 2025 State of the State address that “Crime, illegal immigration, and drugs…threaten the success of Missourians,” and Kehoe is set to sign House Bill 495 on March 26 to address these concerns and advance a signature piece of his 2024 campaign’s public safety agenda.

State Control of St. Louis Police Department

A central provision of House Bill 495 establishes a new state board to oversee the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. The board will include the mayor of St. Louis and five members appointed by the governor and approved by the Missouri Senate. The department has operated under local control since 2013. The bill passed the Missouri House with broad support, 113 to 39.

Despite strong legislative support, recent polling suggests that Missourians prefer local control of their police departments. In the February 2025 SLU/YouGov Poll, 900 likely Missouri voters were asked whether they favored state or local control of the St. Louis City Police Department. An 8% margin preferred local control: 47% of voters supported local control, 39% preferred state control and 14% stated they were not sure.

Missouri voters’ preference for local control of police departments extends statewide. When asked about police oversight in Kansas City, Springfield, and their own communities, voters consistently favored local control:

“In our February poll, 53% of Missouri voters rated crime in their community as fair or poor,” said Steven Rogers, Ph.D., SLU/YouGov Poll Director and associate professor of political science at Saint Louis University. “But it seems that voters want their local cities to handle these crime problems — not the state.”

Stricter Immigration and Fentanyl Laws

House Bill 495 also includes provisions aimed at tightening immigration enforcement and increasing penalties for fentanyl-related crimes — both priorities highlighted in Kehoe’s State of the State Address.

“Missouri will work with President Trump to crack down on illegal immigration and the deadly drugs and criminals that flood through our borders,” Kehoe said during the address.

Under HB 495, Missouri law enforcement agencies will be required to report the immigration status of suspected criminal offenders to the state’s Department of Public Safety. The measure has strong public backing. Sixty-eight percent of Missouri’s likely voters poll favored requiring law enforcement agencies to report criminal offenders’ citizenship status to the Missouri Department of Public Safety, while 18% opposed and 13% were not sure.

“Opinion differed dramatically by party with 91% of Republicans favoring and only 3% opposing with another 6% not sure, while 39% of the Democrats favored with 41% opposed and 20% answered not sure,” said Ken Warren, Ph.D., associate director of the SLU/YouGov Poll and a professor emeritus of political science at SLU.

Missouri voters also supported tougher penalties for fentanyl crimes. HB 495 changes the definition of a “dangerous felony” and amends the offense of child welfare endangerment to include having fentanyl in the presence of a child (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.

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

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

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.