Knox County Flock Cameras: Survey Results

Executive Summary

n=350 likely general election voters, Knox County, TN  |  Text-to-web methodology  |  Fielded August 15–17, 2026  |  MOE ±5.2 pts (95% CI, larger for subgroups)

Spry Strategies surveyed 350 likely general election voters in Knox County, Tennessee to gauge attitudes toward Flock cameras, AI-enabled automated license-plate-reader surveillance cameras deployed by local law enforcement. The electorate sampled leans Republican and conservative (58% Republican, 53% conservative), skews older (64% age 55+), and is highly engaged (92% "extremely likely" to vote).

The topline is unambiguous: Knox County voters reject Flock cameras. A majority, 58.3%, oppose their use, and "strongly oppose" (42.2%) is the single largest response on the entire survey. The rejection is informed, not reflexive: 90% of voters already know about the program, and half believe it violates the Fourth Amendment outright. This opposition is not a partisan artifact of a Democratic or left-leaning sample. It holds even in an electorate that is majority-Republican and majority-conservative, and it translates directly into ballot-box risk, with voters saying they would be less likely, by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, to support a candidate identified with the cameras. Any candidate or officeholder aligned with Flock cameras is on the wrong side of this issue with the Knox County electorate as it stands today.

Political and Issue Context

Right Track / Wrong Track on Crime and Public Safety

Voters are closely split and largely unconvinced on the county's overall direction on crime and public safety: 40.1% say Knox County is on the right track, 26.5% say wrong track, and a striking 33.5% are unsure, the largest "unsure" share of any measure in the survey. That level of uncertainty signals an electorate still forming its view, which is exactly the kind of environment in which a high-salience, well-known issue like Flock cameras can move opinion.

Top Public Safety Priority

Before being asked about Flock cameras specifically, voters were asked what public safety issue matters most to them. School safety leads (31.0%), followed by drug-related crime (19.3%) and crimes related to illegal immigration (18.4%); gang activity (8.4%) and homelessness/mental illness (13.5%) trail. Notably, Flock cameras are marketed primarily as a tool against vehicle theft and general crime-solving, not against the top-tier concerns (school safety, drugs, immigration-related crime) that voters actually prioritize. That mismatch helps explain why voters aren't rallying to the technology's defense despite goodwill toward crime-fighting generally.

Key Findings: Flock Cameras

1. Awareness is nearly universal

90.3% of voters have heard at least something about Flock cameras (54.9% "a lot," 35.4% "a little"); only 9.2% have heard nothing at all. This is not a low-information issue. Voters are forming opinions with real awareness of the program.

2. A majority oppose the cameras outright

●      58.3% oppose Flock cameras (42.2% strongly, 16.1% somewhat) vs. 37.5% who support them (14.3% strongly, 23.2% somewhat).

●      "Strongly oppose" (42.2%) is the single largest response of any option on the survey, larger than all support categories combined.

●      Among those who oppose, 73.9% cite concerns about government surveillance and privacy as the primary reason, far outweighing cost, data retention, or process complaints.

●      Among those who support, the leading reasons are practical: 44.4% point to solving crimes/recovering stolen vehicles and 27.2% to deterrence, not broad enthusiasm for surveillance itself.

3. The issue carries real electoral risk

Asked how a candidate's support for Flock cameras would affect their vote (Q11), voters skew sharply negative: 55.2% say they would be less likely to support such a candidate (43.0% "much less likely") versus just 25.8% more likely, a net -29 point deficit. This makes Flock camera support a liability, not an asset, across the electorate as sampled.

4. Voters want guardrails, not necessarily removal

Regardless of underlying support or opposition, voters overwhelmingly back stricter limits on how long footage is stored and who can access it: 84.1% support stricter limits (67.6% strongly), with virtually no meaningful opposition (6.7% combined). This is the most consensus-driven finding in the survey and points to a clear, low-risk policy path: reform and transparency rather than an up-or-down fight over the cameras' existence.

5. A constitutional concern, not just a policy preference

Half of all voters (50.1%) believe Flock cameras violate the Fourth Amendment, versus 34.9% who do not and 14.9% unsure. Opposition is therefore rooted in a rights-based framework for a substantial share of the electorate, not merely a cost or efficacy critique.

Crosstabs: Gender and Party Identification

The tables below break out the right track/wrong track measure, the top public safety priority, and the core Flock camera questions by gender and by party identification. Party base sizes: Republican n≈204, Democrat n≈96, Independent n≈35 (unweighted approximate); treat Independent and "Something Else" cells as directional given small base size and wide margins of error.

Q3. Right Track / Wrong Track on Crime & Public Safety (%)

Response	Total	Male	Female	Rep.	Dem.	Ind.
Right Track	40.1	50.2	30.0	48.1	28.1	35.7
Wrong Track	26.5	23.6	29.3	21.8	34.6	19.6
Unsure	33.5	26.2	40.7	30.1	37.2	44.7

Women are substantially less convinced the county is on the right track (30.0% vs. 50.2% for men) and far more likely to be unsure (40.7% vs. 26.2%). Republicans are the only party group with a plurality saying "right track," but even among Republicans nearly 1 in 3 say wrong track or are unsure of the county's direction on crime and safety.

Q6. Top Public Safety Priority (%)

Response	Total	Male	Female	Rep.	Dem.	Ind.
School Safety	31.0	28.5	33.6	21.7	51.0	34.7
Drug-Related Crimes	19.3	18.5	20.1	22.4	10.9	25.8
Gang Activity	8.4	10.7	6.1	7.3	11.9	7.0
Homelessness/Mentally Ill	13.5	10.0	17.1	12.9	11.6	21.9
Illegal Immigration	18.4	22.1	14.8	29.9	0.7	3.5
Something Else	9.3	10.3	8.4	5.7	14.0	7.2

Priorities diverge sharply by party: Republicans are far more focused on illegal immigration (29.9%) than Democrats (0.7%), while Democrats prioritize school safety well above the total sample (51.0% vs. 31.0%). Flock cameras, pitched as a vehicle-theft and general crime-solving tool, sit somewhat apart from both parties' top-ranked concerns.

Q8. Support/Oppose Flock Cameras (%)

Response	Total	Male	Female	Rep.	Dem.	Ind.
Strongly support	14.3	14.1	14.4	20.1	2.9	14.4
Somewhat support	23.2	21.5	24.9	27.0	18.9	17.6
Somewhat oppose	16.1	13.5	18.6	16.0	19.5	12.8
Strongly oppose	42.2	45.9	38.5	33.4	55.1	44.9
Not sure	4.3	5.1	3.6	3.5	3.6	10.3
Net Support	37.5	35.6	39.3	47.1	21.8	32.0
Net Oppose	58.3	59.4	57.1	49.4	74.6	57.7

Net Support = Strongly + Somewhat support. Net Oppose = Strongly + Somewhat oppose. Notably, even Republican voters are nearly evenly split (47% support / 49% oppose). Opposition is not confined to Democrats or the ideological left.

Q11. Effect on Vote for a Candidate Who Supports Flock Cameras (%)

Response	Total	Male	Female	Rep.	Dem.	Ind.
Much/somewhat more likely	25.8	25.7	26.0	35.1	12.1	17.0
Much/somewhat less likely	55.2	57.1	53.4	45.1	73.8	54.6
No difference	12.3	10.9	13.6	12.4	9.1	20.6
Unsure/Refuse	6.7	6.3	7.0	7.3	5.1	7.8
Net Effect (more − less)	-29.4	-31.4	-27.4	-10.0	-61.7	-37.6

Even among Republicans, a pro-Flock-camera stance is a net negative with voters (-10 points); the effect is severely negative among Democrats (-62) and Independents (-38).

Q12. Support for Stricter Data Storage/Access Limits (%)

Response	Total	Male	Female	Rep.	Dem.	Ind.
Strongly support	67.6	67.4	67.9	63.4	76.0	70.6
Somewhat support	16.5	17.1	15.8	21.1	11.3	9.2
Somewhat oppose	2.7	2.6	2.8	3.4	1.8	2.0
Strongly oppose	4.0	3.6	4.5	4.9	2.9	2.3
Unsure/Refuse	9.2	9.3	9.1	7.1	8.0	15.9
Net Support	84.1	84.5	83.7	84.5	87.3	79.8

This is the strongest point of consensus in the survey: bipartisan majorities of 80%+ back stricter storage and access limits regardless of gender or party.

Q13. Belief That Flock Cameras Violate the Fourth Amendment (%)

Response	Total	Male	Female	Rep.	Dem.	Ind.
Yes, a violation	50.1	53.4	46.9	42.9	60.7	55.1
No, not a violation	34.9	33.5	36.3	40.0	26.3	32.8
Unsure/Refuse	14.9	13.1	16.8	17.1	13.0	12.2

Men are somewhat more likely than women to view the cameras as a constitutional violation (53% vs. 47%); Republicans are the only subgroup where a plurality say the cameras do not violate the Fourth Amendment, though a substantial 43% of Republicans still say they do.

Q7. Awareness of Flock Cameras (%)

Response	Total	Male	Female	Rep.	Dem.	Ind.
Yes, a lot	54.9	53.8	55.9	53.9	53.4	62.2
Yes, a little	35.4	35.2	35.6	33.9	41.6	34.3
No, nothing at all	9.2	10.3	8.1	11.8	4.2	3.5
Not sure	0.5	0.6	0.4	0.4	0.8	0.0

Awareness is high and consistent across gender and party. This is a well-known issue to the electorate, with little room for a persuasion play based on ignorance of the program.

Strategic Takeaways

●      Flock camera support is a net political liability across the sampled electorate, including a majority-Republican, majority-conservative universe. This is not a niche or partisan complaint.

●      Opposition is driven primarily by privacy/surveillance concerns and, for half of voters, a genuine constitutional objection. Arguments about crime-fighting utility alone are unlikely to move a majority.

●      The clearest common ground, and likely the safest policy position, is embracing stricter limits on data retention and access, which draws 80%+ support across gender and party lines.

●      Messaging that frames a candidate as pro-Flock-camera without qualification risks a double-digit net deficit even with core Republican voters, and a severe deficit with Democrats and Independents.

Download Toplines & Executive Summary Here:

SPRY_Knox-Co-Flock-Topline-Report.pdf

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Knox_County_Flock_Cameras_Executive_Summary.pdf

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