Jesse Scheckner
A vast majority of Florida voters oppose recent federal cuts to public safety and victim services programs under President Donald Trump, new polling shows.
That includes 80% of voters in the Sunshine State who want to see funding under the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) restored for community violence prevention, youth outreach and services for crime victims.
In April, the DOJ cut 365 grants to local crime prevention and victim services programs valued at $811 million at the time they were awarded, leading to myriad disruptions at the local level, according to the National Association of Counties.
The Office of Justice Programs said at the time that the cuts were made due to a lack of alignment with the Trump administration’s funding aims, stating in an April 22 email that the funding “no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.”
The nonprofit Alliance for Safety and Justice, which commissioned the poll, said the federal cuts stripped 16 Florida organizations of $108 million in funding.
No state saw more cuts, funding-wise, than Florida, according to the group’s map of the cuts.
Florida’s share of voters who want to see the funding restored tracks with the national rate (79%), pollsters from McLaughlin & Associates found. So does the state’s 90% share of likely voters who approve of federal funding for violence prevention programs and victim services.
Support is positive across partisan lines.
“Our communities and families are less safe today because of these cuts, and Florida voters don’t want to go backwards,” said Shaena Fazal, Chief of State Advocacy for the Alliance for Safety and Justice.
“Our government leaders need to hear this outcry and restore funding to the organizations that prevent crime, support victims of violence, and save lives.”
Aswad Thomas, Vice President of Alliance for Safety and Justice and a gun violence survivor, said the loss of services, shelters and trauma support puts lives at risk.
“Voters understand that, and they expect action,” he said in a statement. “We urge the administration and the Department of Justice to restore these lifesaving funds.”
One example of the funding cuts’ impact in Florida is Miami-Dade County’s Circle of Brotherhood nonprofit, whose work against violence led to an 84% drop in homicides between 2020 and 2024 in one ZIP code and a 60% decline in others.
The DOJ cuts froze about $600,000 of a $2 million federal earmark for the group, which last month protested the change, which it said could lead to layoffs or even the organization’s closure.
“We have to make sure that we are putting people over profit,” gun violence prevention advocate Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin and a collaborator of the Circle of Brotherhood’s health and wellness department, told WLRN. “This is not one of the areas they need to cut.”
