Embold’s autumn research has uncovered critical insights on an array of topics such as military families, banned books, and city life. Our dynamic online sampling has uncovered just how much support our military families have and surprising results on views towards banning books. Embold is also quickly becoming an expert in the Bay Area with the vast amount of research we have done there.

Overwhelming support for ensuring our military families have access to jobs

On behalf of our client Merit, we were able to dive into the issue of military spouse reciprocity of professional licenses. As reported by business wire “one in three spouses of service members work in an industry that requires an occupational license.” Often laws restrict out-of-state recognition of licenses, and our client sees this as a solvable issue.

We found in our national survey that over half of voters who once served were at least somewhat concerned about their family’s ability to find employment if they had to relocate to a different state. 93% of voters agree that finding a new job when you move frequently is difficult and that we need to make it easier for military spouses to find work. Our results were mentioned in meet the press.

Less division than expected on the issue of banning books 

We surveyed registered voters nationally on behalf of our client EveryLibrary. The results were featured widely during #BannedBooksWeek including in Politico here.

As mentioned in our last newsletter, teachers tend to be highly favored among all voters, and in this work we found libraries and librarians are second only to them.

Only 3% of voters say they can’t find a reason to support libraries. The top reason to support libraries was that they provide education and resources for those who otherwise couldn’t afford it. We also found that nearly all voters have heard about efforts to ban books in schools and public libraries with women, college-educated voters, and Democrats being the most likely to have heard a great deal about it. However, just 8% of voters think there are many books that are inappropriate and should be banned. The type of book influences how book bans are received. 

Bay Area Residents Continue to Sour on Quality of Life 

Embold’s extensive research in the Bay Area includes ongoing work with The San Francisco Standard and Joint Venture Silicon Valley. 

Last month we surveyed residents in the Bay Area to find that 73% of residents reported that the quality of life has gotten worse. 

That decline was felt most by residents age 35-64, non-college-educated residents, in San Francisco & Contra Costa, and Republicans. 

However, despite any pessimism, residents seem to still feel a sense of belonging to the Bay Area.

On par with municipal trends, cost of living, homelessness and housing, and crime are among the top concerns with cost of housing being the top listed concern at 76% saying it is an extremely serious problem. Compared to our work in 2021, residents list crime and climate change at higher numbers than last year. Speaking of cost of housing, 65% of residents say they want to own a home but don’t think they’ll ever be able to afford it in the Bay Area. When asked about support for building various types of new housing, answers depend vastly on where it’s built. 

Read more of our Bay Area work at The San Francisco Standard and East Bay Times

News & Updates

Join our email list to get notified when we release new polls in your area.

Embold Research is the nonpartisan, nonpolitical division of Change Research. Our methodology and polling have been featured in: