The state's leading gubernatorial candidates weigh in on what voters believe will best tackle issues including crime, homelessness and the cost of living.
SEATTLE — New results from KING 5's exclusive poll revealed how a group of likely Washington voters believe the next governor should handle issues such as crime, homelessness and the cost of living.
There is no incumbent in this race, which means the approach to these issues will have fresh strategies from one of the candidates.
Currently, Democrat Bob Ferguson and Republican Dave Reichert are the leading candidates. Other candidates carrying support in polls thus far, include the Republican party's endorsed candidate, Semi Bird, and Democratic State Senator Mark Mullet.
The Aug. 6 top-two primary will decide who ends up on the November ballot.
The exclusive survey was conducted In partnership with The Seattle Times and UW's Center for an Informed Public.
In this poll, voters were asked how they think Washington's next governor should address crime. They were given a list of solutions, and they were asked to choose two.
The top results were to hire more police officers, fund more mental health care, impose stricter sentences, and fund programs to fight poverty.
KING 5 discussed the results with its political analysts Rob McKenna and Gary Locke.
"They're not just saying, lock them up and throw away the key," McKenna said, "So, I think it's a pretty sophisticated, nuanced view that voters are taking against the backdrop of saying to the next governor, this is our number one issue."
"It clearly shows that the voters understand the complexity of crime," Locke said. "That there needs to be not just enforcement, even-handed enforcement, but also to treat the underlying causes to prevent people from going through the criminal justice system over and over."
The top results from voters on solutions for the homelessness crisis include more mental health care funding, expanding drug and alcohol treatment and building more shelters.
KING 5 spoke to candidates Ferguson and Reichert about these recommended solutions.
"What I heard the most frequently from voters across the state - urban, rural, red blue, counties - whatever it was - was the need for more affordable housing," Ferguson said. "In other words, meeting with Microsoft executives who want more affordable housing for their workforce coming from all around the world to a business owner in Eastern Washington that has a restaurant in a tourist town that has to make fewer hours because his workforce cannot afford to live near his restaurant that's been there for many years.."
"Regulations and the acquisition of building permits is so cumbersome, are so cumbersome, that it slows down the building process and actually adds about $30,000 per structure," Reichert said. "As we go forward and look how we want to build out housing, we need to take a look at the impediments caused by government."When it comes to the cost of living, voters believe the best solutions are building more affordable housing, lowering taxes and lowering the cost of health insurance.
KING 5's political analysts weighed in on these results.
“I think they understand that without greater supply, what's available, what's remaining for sale or for rent is going to be very, very expensive," Locke said. "So they understand that governments, local state governments, need to come together to find incentives for more construction, faster construction, and units that meet the needs of people looking for housing, especially young families, small families.”
“People are really feeling the higher cost of living and they don't feel it anywhere as much as they feel it in housing, right? It's a severe problem," McKenna said. "We've been under building housing in the state for the last several years. We make an incredibly expensive and difficult to permit new housing of all types, apartments, single-family homes, condos, you name it. And that constraint and supply is showing up in housing inflation. People are genuinely worried about where their adult kids are going to live, whether they're going to be able to afford to buy a home or for that matter whether they can even afford rent, if they have to rent."
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