LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) — Voters are taking a pessimistic view of many issues facing the electorate in the run-up to the upcoming election.

A Nexstar Media/Emerson College poll asked likely Louisiana voters where they stood on multiple issues ahead of the Oct. 14 primary.

The poll asked seven questions on topics including crime, insurance rates and education.

Nearly 62% of homeowners said they have been notified of an upcoming increase in their homeowners/flood insurance rates in the last year, while 20.4% said their rates have not increased. About a third of them, 33.5%, said the rate increase will be a major financial burden.

Similarly, 70.3% of respondents said their car insurance rates went up in the past year, with 39.6% saying it will present a major financial burden.

Nearly 38% of those polled said they felt their neighborhoods are less safe than a year ago. 20.6% said their neighborhoods were “somewhat less safe” and 17.3% said it was “much less safe.” Just under 41% reported about the same/no difference.

Louisiana has enacted a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender care scheduled to go into effect at the start of 2024. When asked if they support or oppose bans on hormone treatments, puberty-blocking drugs and other gender-affirming care for anyone under 18, a solid majority, 51.1% of respondents said they oppose such a ban, while 28.7% said they support a ban. Just over 20% said they were unsure or had no opinion.

Poll workers asked voters if, compared to the K-12 education they received, that received by Louisiana students today was better, about the same or worse; 66.2% said education today is worse than they received, 14.7% said it was better, and 19% said it was about the same.

The polling survey of Louisiana voters was conducted Aug. 13-14. The data sets were weighted by gender, age, education, race, party affiliation, and region based on 2023 registration modeling. Modeling is based on U.S. Census parameters and Louisiana voter registration and election data.

It is important to remember that subsets based on demographics carry with them higher margins of error, as the sample size is reduced.

Data was collected by contacting landlines via Interactive Voice Response, cell phones via SMS-to-web, and a consumer list of emails.