Chicagoans assess local leadership

Like any major city, Chicago has many challenges and opportunities as it works to develop a diversified economy in the 21st century and attract new residents and businesses. After Richard M. Daley served as mayor for 6 terms, his successors have had shorter tenures in office: Rahm Emanuel (2 terms), Lori Lightfoot (1 term), and Brandon Johnson (currently in his first term). The Harris Poll recently surveyed Chicagoans about their assessments of the city and its local leadership. Below are some of the findings from the survey.

 

 

Nearly all (93%) city residents think Chicago is facing issues that require a strong leader to address. Three in four (74%) think special interest groups (e.g. unions, lobbyists) have too much political influence in Chicago. Only 47% think Chicago’s local leaders usually act in service of residents’ best interests, while 92% think a mayor is obligated to govern with all their city’s residents, rather than only their supporters, in mind.

 

Almost 9 in 10 (87%) think policies rooted in common sense are necessary to get the city back on track, and 72% think Chicago would be best led by a mayor with generally moderate (i.e., rather than conservative or progressive) political beliefs. Nearly two-thirds (64%) disagree with the priorities of the current mayoral administration, and three-fourths (76%) think the city would be better off with a different mayor.

 

They don’t score the performance of recent mayors very highly.

 

Of the three mayors since Richard M. Daley, 37% of city residents think Rahm Emanuel performed the best as Mayor of Chicago. Just 14% think the same of Lori Lightfoot, while 10% think current mayor Brandon Johnson has performed the best, with 11% unsure and 27% thinking none of the three has performed well as mayor. Of the four most recent mayors, only Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel’s approval ratings are “above water:” 53% approve / 17% disapprove of the job Richard M. Daley did as mayor of Chicago and 46% approve / 23% disapprove of the job Emanuel did. Lightfoot fares slightly better than Johnson, though he has not yet served a full term: 31% approve / 43% disapprove of the job Lori Lightfoot did as mayor of Chicago, and 23% approve / 51% disapprove of the job Brandon Johnson is doing as mayor.

 

A majority (56%) agree that Chicago would be better off if Rahm Emanuel were currently the mayor of Chicago instead of Brandon Johnson.