Do People Support This?

Polling measures public sentiment, not program effectiveness. The evidence that CVI works is covered in Q05. What follows is what the polling data shows about political feasibility, organized by national numbers, state and local data, opposition arguments, law enforcement endorsement, and what remains untested.

The National Numbers

A 2024 national survey of 2,503 registered voters found that 65% consider CVI programs effective at making communities safer. That figure is measurably lower than the 80% effectiveness rating for mobile crisis response in the same survey.

Several additional findings from the same survey: 77% support creating independent CVI offices within city government. Eighty-one percent agree that CVI is effective when told that gun violence “spreads through small groups of people who know each other.” Seventy-nine percent agree when told these programs provide workers with “access to information about conflicts before they boil over” because “they live in and are members of the community.” Fifty-seven percent say CVI programs make them feel safer. Eighty percent agree that investing in CVI is as important as hiring more police officers for reducing gun homicides.

The framing effect is documented: support rises from 65% to 81% when the program is described in concrete rather than abstract terms.

Three specific framing tests demonstrate the pattern. Per a 2024 national survey, 66% of Americans find convincing the core premise that “by working with trained community leaders to identify situations that could turn deadly, violence intervention programs can effectively decrease gun violence.” Seventy percent find convincing the argument for “providing after-school and mentoring programs for juveniles who are identified by community violence intervention experts as being at high risk.” Fifty-one percent find convincing the argument for “finding a job for people who are identified by community violence intervention experts as being at high risk.” In each case, the concrete description outperforms the abstract concept.

Bipartisan support runs through the data: 76% of Americans, including majorities of both Democrats and Republicans, support using federal funds for CVI programs, per the survey. Seventy-seven percent support creating independent offices of community violence intervention to work alongside police departments. When forced to prioritize limited resources, 51% prefer CVI investment over hiring more police (42%), per the survey. After hearing both supportive and opposition arguments, 48% still preferred CVI spending over 42% for more police — the preference holds under pressure.

The survey also tested how convincing voters find specific opposition messages: “There’s a reason crime is down this year — we invested in putting more police on the street” convinced 71%, per the survey. “Community safety reforms are just another way to diminish the value of more police” convinced 60%. “There’s no need to implement alternative approaches to community safety” convinced 57%. These opposition messages are convincing in isolation, “but not as convincing as they find the arguments in support of community violence intervention.”

The testing also documented what happens after both sides are heard. Per the survey, when voters know “what you know now about offices of community violence intervention” and are asked to choose how to invest surplus safety funds, 48% chose CVI and 42% chose more police, with 10% undecided.

An earlier national survey documented the baseline: 76% of Americans supported their local public officials using American Rescue Plan dollars to fund evidence-based CVI programs, Seventy-seven percent supported creating independent offices of community violence intervention. After reading a brief explanation of CVI, 51% would prioritize CVI programs over hiring more police officers. The same percentage of likely voters (80%) agreed investing in CVI is as important for reducing gun homicides as hiring more police officers, per the survey.

State and Local Polling

Separate state-level surveys conducted in 2021 found similar patterns. California polling (1,739 voters, ±2.5% margin of error) found 53% of voters prefer investing in CVI over 33% who prefer more police. Seventy-three percent support federal funding for CVI programs. In Los Angeles specifically, 46% prefer CVI investment versus 45% who prefer more police, with 69% supporting federal funding. A Louisiana poll (346 voters, ±5% margin of error) found voters split 46% to 45% in favor of CVI, with 69% supporting federal funding.

The Opposition Arguments That Resonate

A 2024 national survey tested opposition arguments against CVI. The results:

Seventy-one percent of voters find persuasive the argument that crime has gone down because of investment in police, not because of alternative programs. Sixty percent find persuasive the argument that CVI programs diminish the value of police work. Fifty-seven percent agree there is no need for alternatives to police.

The same survey found that pro-CVI arguments are more persuasive overall in head-to-head messaging tests. But the opposition numbers are substantial, particularly among voters who prioritize traditional law enforcement.

Law Enforcement Endorsement

Law enforcement leaders who have worked alongside CVI programs have produced specific, attributed endorsements:

Superintendent Larry Snelling of Chicago: “We can’t arrest our way out of this.”

Deputy Mayor Todd Bettison of Detroit, a former police official: CVI workers are “doing something police can’t do.”

Chief Murphy Paul of Baton Rouge: “Over 47% of our shooting incidents happen inside of a house or on a property. I could have 200 more officers on the streets and it wouldn’t solve the problem.”

Commander Andre Parham of Chicago: CVI workers “build relationships in a way that us, the police, we just can’t. It just is not possible.”

Chief Charlie Beck, who led both the LAPD and Chicago Police: “Intervention groups are the answer to reducing violence… If CVI can get young people to lay down guns, I’m 100% behind that — and everybody else should be, too.”

Chief Ellery Backus of Lansing: “I don’t know anybody else can pick up that space.”

Diane Goldstein, Executive Director of Law Enforcement Action Partnership and retired police lieutenant: “Law enforcement is a critical component to reducing gun violence in our cities, but police can’t do it alone and community violence interruption programs are a proven method.”

The “Hiring Former Criminals” Objection

CVI faces a workforce-specific objection that no other alternative public safety program encounters. The University of Chicago Leadership Academy provides six months of intensive training, per the Chicago Defender, with graduates credentialed as certified violence prevention professionals. Four hundred CRED participants have earned high school diplomas across nine graduations, per the Chicago Tribune. More than 40 companies in 17 industries hire graduates. As Blommer Chocolate Senior VP Bob Karr wrote in a 2023 Chicago Tribune op-ed: “Business leaders cannot sit back and hope that others will solve crime.”

The “Anti-Gun Activism” Objection

Aidan Johnston, federal affairs director of Gun Owners of America, told Reuters in July 2025 that CVI programs are “nothing more than a funnel to send federal tax dollars to anti-gun non-profits who advocate against our rights.”

The counterevidence is the bipartisan track record. Republican governors in Ohio ($51 million) and Montana ($8 million) have funded CVI programs, per state reporting. Florida and South Carolina enacted new violence prevention funding in 2024, per Giffords. The Reuters article itself noted that the Gun Owners of America view “is not universally shared by law enforcement.”

The “Soft on Crime” Objection

Seventy-one percent of voters in a 2024 national survey found the “crime is down because of police investment” argument persuasive. Three pieces of counterevidence appear in program data: three randomized controlled trials meeting the gold-standard evidence bar (a higher bar than most policing strategies have cleared, ); 80% of voters agreeing CVI is as important as policing when both frames are presented together; and the police chiefs quoted above who endorse CVI from operational experience.

The Federal Political Vulnerability

The April 2025 DOJ termination of more than 360 grants worth over $800 million, per Reuters, created an asymmetry: the programs have bipartisan voter support, bipartisan law enforcement endorsement, and three RCTs, but the federal funding infrastructure is contracting. The class-action lawsuit was dismissed in July 2025, per Law360, and is on appeal in the D.C. Circuit. The FY2026 budget proposes eliminating CVI grant funding entirely, per Giffords.

The programs most insulated are those in the nine states with Medicaid reimbursement or significant state appropriations, per HAVI. The programs most vulnerable are those that relied primarily on federal grants.

What the Polling Does Not Tell Us

Demographic Patterns

Support correlates with exposure to gun violence. Per a 2024 national survey, 79% of Black voters and 78% of Latino/a voters express concern about gun violence in their communities, compared to 58% of white voters. A Michigan survey found that 80% of county sheriffs and local police chiefs support having specialized emergency response teams that include mental health and social work professionals for some 911 calls.

In Harris County, Texas, 78% of residents believe their crisis program is effective at making the county safer, jumping to 88% after learning more about the program, per the national survey. The partisan split: 84% of Democrats and 83% of Republicans — a one-point gap. The Harris County data documents what happens when residents have direct exposure to the program rather than evaluating it as an abstract concept.
The survey data documents that “community violence intervention programs are deeply popular across a broad cross-section of Americans, including both Republicans and Democrats” and that “Americans view community violence interruption not as a peripheral strategy for combating gun violence, but as a central solution just as important as — or even a bigger priority than — traditional policing.”

The California survey methodology: 1,739 voters, ±2.5% margin of error. The Louisiana survey: 346 voters, ±5% margin of error. Both weighted by age, gender, education, race, and voting history, .

Four gaps in the polling data.

No polling has tested CVI support after a program failure or a negative incident involving a CVI worker, per published polling analysis.

The exposure effect documented for mobile crisis (Harris County support jumped from 78% to 88% after residents learned about the program, per the national survey) has not been separately documented for CVI. Given that CVI support rises from 65% to 81% with a concrete description, the exposure effect may be large.

Trend data across multiple years is not published. Whether national CVI support is growing, stable, or declining is not documented.

No polling has tested opposition messages in a rigorous experimental design specific to CVI — the kind of dedicated opposition message test a political consultant would want before advising a candidate to champion CVI.

Bottom Line

A 2024 national survey found 65% effectiveness rating nationally, 77% support for independent CVI offices, 51% preference over more police in a forced choice. Support rises to 81% when the program is described in concrete terms. Opposition arguments have real traction — 71% find the police-investment argument persuasive — but pro-CVI arguments win head-to-head in the same survey. The most politically consequential data point is law enforcement endorsement from Superintendent Snelling, Chief Paul, Chief Beck, Chief Backus, Commander Parham, and Deputy Mayor Bettison. The primary political vulnerability is not public opinion but federal funding contraction. Polling measures political feasibility, not program effectiveness.

Source Appendix

2024 national survey — 2,503 registered voters, all top-line numbers. 2024 national survey. https://safercitiesresearch.com/
Opposition arguments — 71%, 60%, 57%. 2024 national survey opposition message testing.
California and Louisiana state polling. State-specific polls, 2021. California: 1,739 voters, ±2.5% margin of error. Louisiana: 346 voters, ±5% margin of error. Published alongside national poll at https://safercitiesresearch.com/the-latest/polling-community-violence-interrupters (State-specific breakdowns referenced in national polling materials; standalone state PDFs not separately published online.)
Law enforcement endorsements — Snelling, Bettison, Paul, Parham, Beck, Backus, Goldstein. See Q01 Source Appendix entries 8-11. Goldstein: National poll press release, September 8, 2021. https://safercitiesresearch.com/the-latest/polling-community-violence-interrupters Beck full quote: Chicago Defender, “UChicago Launches Initiative to Help Combat Gun Violence Across America,” September 2023. https://chicagodefender.com/uchicago-launches-initiative-to-combat-gun-violence-across-america/
CRED graduates, Leadership Academy, Karr quote. Chicago Tribune, August 2025. Chicago Defender, September 2023. Bob Karr op-ed, Chicago Tribune, July 2023.
Aidan Johnston / Gun Owners of America. Reuters, July 2025. https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2025-07-29/exclusive-trump-administration-slashed-federal-funding-for-gun-violence-prevention
Bipartisan state funding — Ohio $51M, Montana $8M, Florida, South Carolina. State government reporting. Giffords 2024 year in review.
DOJ terminations, lawsuit, FY2026. Reuters, April 2025. Law360, July 2025. Giffords, September 2025.
Medicaid — 9 states. HAVI. https://www.thehavi.org/for-lawmakers
Harris County exposure effect — 78% to 88%. national survey.