Polling Shows Overwhelming Support for Equal Rights for Crime Victims

In a recent poll, results show that Mississippi voters overwhelmingly support Marsy’s Law as a state Constitutional Amendment. This poll was conducted by two prominent polling firms working in Mississippi: Republican Public Opinion Strategies and Democratic Chism Strategies. Together, the two surveyed 500 registered Mississippi voters between September 5th – 8th. The poll has a margin of error of +4.38%.

Backing for Marsy’s Law crosses partisan, racial, geographic, gender, age, ideological, marital status, and educational lines. When four distinct parts of Marsy’s Law were tested, Mississippians said they like most that it “says victims have the right to be informed of the conviction, place and time of incarceration, as well as any scheduled release date of the offender.” Voters also like that “it gives a crime victim the right to due process and to be treated with fairness, respect, and dignity.” There was a widespread agreement with the statement that “crime victims should have the same level rights as those accused and convicted of a crime.” The support for Marsy’s Law was great along all racial lines, gender lines, and
political parties. Overall, polling confirms that the political landscape is very promising for a campaign on behalf of a Marsy’s Law Constitutional
Amendment.

Highlights include:

- 74% of voters support Marsy’s Law

- There is consistent support for Marsy’s across all four regions of the
state

- 78% of women 18-54 support Marsy’s Law

- 79% of men 18-54 support Marsy’s Law

- 59% of conservative voters support Marsy’s Law

- 88% of liberal voters support Marsy’s Law

- 83% of minority voters support Marsy’s Law

If members of the press are interested in speaking to one of our two polling firms or seeing the poll in greater detail, please contact Amanda Wells at [email protected].

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Marsy’s Law is named after Marsalee (Marsy) Ann Nicholas, who was stalked and killed by her ex-boyfriend in 1983. A week after her murder, Marsy’s mother was confronted by her daughter’s murderer in a grocery store. Having received no notification from the judicial system, the family was unaware that he had been released on bail mere days after the murder. Marsy’s family and others have faced pain and suffering since the courts and law enforcement is not obligated to keep them informed. While criminals have more than 20 individual rights spelled out in the U.S. Constitution, the surviving family members of murder victims have none. Marsy’s Law for All seeks to amend the Mississippi constitution to ensure those crime victims will have the same co-equal rights as the accused and convicted.