Poll Results: Sexual Assault

February 03, 2014, 8:34 PM GMT+0

These are the topline results of a YouGov/Huffington Post survey of 1000 US adults interviewed January 30 - 31, 2014 on sexual assault on campuses. The results show that non-profits specializing in crisis counselling are the most trusted to properly handle people reporting rapes and sexual assaults. The margin of error is 3.9%.

Click here to see full tables and demographic crossbreaks

From what you’ve seen and heard, do you think the issue of sexual assault on college and university campuses is an extremely important issue, very important, somewhat important, or not too important?
Extremely important . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48%
Very important . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32%
Somewhat important . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13%
Not too important . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4%
Not sure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3%

Generally speaking, do you think colleges and universities do a good or a bad job handling cases of students reporting rape, sexual assault or harassment?
They do a good job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14%
They do a bad job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42%
Not sure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44%

Colleges and universities are required by federal law to accurately track and disclose all reports of rape and other sex crimes on campus. Which of the following do you think colleges and universities are most likely to do?
Accurately report all sex crimes on campus, even if it makes them look bad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17%
Try to keep their numbers low by not reporting all sex crimes on campus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61%
Not sure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22%

Some people say the U.S. Department of Education should make a public announcement when it decides to investigate a college or university’s handling of rape reports because the public has a right to know about these investigations. Other people say the Department of Education should wait to make an announcement because it would make the college or university look bad even if the investigation didn’t find violations. What do you think?
It should make a public announcement at the beginning of an investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37%
It should wait until the investigation is complete to make an announcement and present findings . . . .47%
Not sure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16%