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As Americans head to the midterm elections this month, several issues pertaining to housing weigh on their minds, according to a new survey.
The survey by real-estate brokerage Redfin
RDFN,
which polled 2,000 U.S. residents over October, found that a voters were very concerned about crime and safety, as well as affordability, when it comes to where they live.
Housing issues weigh on voters’ minds as they head to the midterm elections, which fall on Nov. 8. While voters aren’t voting for the president, several federal, state, and local seats are being contested.
But where to live?
Some 61% of Americans polled by Redfin said that they’d prefer to live in a place or would only live in a place with strong gun-control laws, while 59% would prefer or want to only live in a place where contraception is fully legal.
“61% of Americans said that they’d prefer to live in a place or would only live in a place with strong gun control laws.”
The same share of respondents preferred places with “strong protections of voting rights and/or easy vote-by-ail.”
“When deciding where to live, Americans are giving outsized weight to affordability, crime & safety and local abortion laws — all issues crucial to this year’s midterms,” Redfin stated.
According to the survey, 29% of voters said housing affordability is increasingly important to them in determining who to vote for in the upcoming election. That’s up from 23% in 2020.
Affordability also came in first place when deciding where to live: 76% of respondents said this is a big factor in their decision-making.
Crime and safety concerns came in second, with 75% of respondents saying it’s a big issue that affects their decision in where to live, followed by cost-of-living worries (74% said it’s important).
Redfin survey from October 2022.
Data & graphic: Redfin
Redfin also noted that 46% of respondents said they’d be hesitant to move to an area where people have different political views that they don’t share. That’s up from 43% of respondents in 2020 who said they’d be hesitant.
The issue of affordable housing remained a constant theme: 52% polled said that they support policies designed to keep homes affordable, and 32% said they would support zoning policies that allow for more dense housing units (like apartments).
That share increased from 27% to 32% between 2020 and 2022, likely a result of how the inventory of homes — for sale, and for rent — has sharply dropped over the last two years.
Got thoughts on the housing market? Write to MarketWatch reporter Aarthi Swaminathan at aarthi@marketwatch.com
