Chicagoans Express Deep Concern About the Nation’s & City’s Direction
ChicagoSpeaks is the only probability-based panel built exclusively for Chicago, giving decision-makers reliable evidence on residents’ opinions and priorities.
Q4 2025
A ChicagoSpeaks® poll finds that Chicagoans are deeply pessimistic about the nation’s trajectory, with most believing things are headed in the wrong direction nationally. A majority express similar concerns about Chicago.
Among Chicagoans, economic worries dominate, driven by high living costs and stagnant wages. Many residents also fear rising medical expenses, with half concerned about affording care, accessing services, or losing insurance. These concerns are especially pronounced among lower-income and Hispanic Chicagoans.
Personal safety is another area of concern for many Chicago residents. More than half of Chicagoans fear walking alone at night near their homes, a trend unchanged throughout 2025, with women more likely than men to feel unsafe. Violent crime is the leading reason, followed by strangers or suspicious individuals. About half cite poor lighting or limited police presence, while those who feel safe credit well-lit streets, strong community ties, and low crime.
These concerns are accompanied by low levels of trust in many public institutions. Few express confidence in Congress, the presidency, the Supreme Court, major media, organized religion, or the police. The recent federal shutdown is widely seen as a major national problem among Chicagoans, even though few were personally affected. Three-quarters blame Donald Trump, seven in 10 fault Congressional Republicans, and 4 in 10 hold Congressional Democrats responsible, underscoring sharp partisan divides for each.
Chicagoans’ pessimism extends to their views of the nation’s economic outlook. The economy and inflation top the list of national issues of concern to Chicagoans. Nearly 9 in 10 Chicago residents are at least fairly worried about the nation’s economy and inflation, while about three-quarters say the same about the quality of the environment, the size and power of the federal government, and federal spending.
“Chicagoans are largely pessimistic about the state of the country as a whole, with 9 in 10 saying they think things are heading in the wrong direction.”
The survey also examines how Chicagoans view immigration and immigration enforcement. Chicago residents are widely against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations aimed at arresting undocumented individuals across the city.
A majority of residents support actions to push back against ICE operations, such as documenting ICE activity in their neighborhoods, community groups providing aid to immigrants, city officials speaking out against ICE, and local police refusing to cooperate with the agency. However, partisan divides persist with Democrats more likely to support resistance efforts, while Republicans tend to favor measures that assist ICE.
In addition to opposing ICE, most Chicago residents favor a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. About a third want reductions in the number of immigrants and 40 percent prefer current levels. Support for cutting the number of immigrants is higher among Republicans, those 60 and older, and people without a college degree. While most Chicagoans believe immigration benefits Chicago’s economy and culture, opinions are mixed on its impact on politics and crime.
Methodology
The Chicago poll was conducted November 24–December 8, 2025, using ChicagoSpeaks®, NORC at the University of Chicago’s probability-based panel of Chicago residents. Online interviews were completed with 1,230 adults. The overall margin of sampling error is +/- 3.9 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level, including the design effect.
NORC conducted the survey using two probability-based sample sources: (1) AmeriSpeak® panelists residing in Chicago and (2) ChicagoSpeaks panelists. Final survey estimates were calibrated to account for the two sample sources. This research supports a scientifically rigorous, community-driven resource that informs policymakers and the public about the experiences and opinions of Chicago residents.
Interviews were conducted online in English and Spanish with Chicago residents ages 18 and older. AmeriSpeak panelists were invited through the password-protected AmeriSpeak Mobile App and received email and SMS reminders, while ChicagoSpeaks panelists received email and SMS invitations. Respondents received a small monetary incentive for completing the survey.
Quality assurance checks were conducted to ensure data quality. In total, 28 interviews were removed for nonresponse to at least 50 percent of the questions asked of them or for completing the survey in less than one-third the median interview time for the full sample. These interviews were excluded from the data file prior to weighting.
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About ChicagoSpeaks
Funded and operated by NORC at the University of Chicago, ChicagoSpeaks® is a probability-based panel designed to be representative of the Chicago household population.
For more information, email ChicagoSpeaks-BD@norc.org.
About NORC at the University of Chicago
NORC at the University of Chicago conducts research and analysis that decision-makers trust. As a nonpartisan research organization and a pioneer in measuring and understanding the world, we have studied almost every aspect of the human experience and every major news event for more than eight decades. Today, we partner with government, corporate, and nonprofit clients around the world to provide the objectivity and expertise necessary to inform the critical decisions facing society.
Contact: For more information, please email press@norc.org or call (877) 832-0392.
