Poll: Seattle voters disapprove of council’s direction, agree with its politics

A recent poll reported by Crosscut yielded some interesting results, revealing that Seattle voters don’t approve of city council, and yet still align with members’ overall politics.

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Out of 1,050 total respondents, 46 percent said that Seattle City Council is on the wrong track, while just 40 percent said it was on the right track. Fifty-two percent disapproved of city council’s overall performance, 43 percent approved, and just 40 percent said they trusted the council.

Additionally, 52 percent agreed that Seattle City Council had “failed to make meaningful progress on too many critical issues,” and that changing the makeup of the council was necessary to “move our city forward.”

Just 39 percent said that “city council deserves credit for the progress they have made.”

Where things got confusing was when the poll asked respondents about their political leanings relative to the council’s.

Ranking on a scale of 1 to 7 — where 1 was liberal and 7 was conservative — 65 percent said the council’s politics were somewhere between 1 and 3; a total of 62 percent of respondents personally aligned the same way.

While the disapproval of city council’s effectiveness runs in line with past polls, the data here claims that liberal voters aren’t pleased with the council members elected to represent their political interests.

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It’s worth noting that the poll was paid for by the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce’s political committee, an organization that Crosscut says is seeking “dramatic change on the council in 2019.”

Seven out of nine total council seats in Seattle are up for grabs in 2019. Debora Juarez (District 5), Kshama Sawant (District 3), and Lisa Herbold (District 1) have officially announced their intent to seek reelection, although Mike O’Brien (District 6) is expected to run as well.

Sally Bagshaw (District 7), Rob Johnson (District 4), and Council President Bruce Harrell (District 2) have all expressed that they will not be seeking reelection.

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