Poll shows voters feel Seattle is ‘making progress’ in reducing crime

Most Seattle voters say the city is making progress in reducing crime, according to a recent poll by the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.

“Seattle won’t go backwards,” President and CEO of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce Rachel Smith said.” “People are feeling significantly safer visiting downtown at night and nearly half believe that we’ve made progress on public safety,” Smith said.

Concern about public safety dropped 10 percentage points compared to the Chamber’s previous survey. The poll found that 85% of respondents feel safe visiting downtown Seattle during the day, while 45% said they are comfortable being there at night.

While a majority of voters said they have seen improvements in the removal of homeless encampments, homelessness remains the top priority in the survey. Concern about homelessness and the cost of living showed little change from the Chamber’s last poll.

“More Seattleites believe the city has made progress on reducing encampments than they did just six months ago,” Smith said.

Majority of Seattle voters believe city should stand up to Trump

According to the survey, 72% of voters say the city should “aggressively stand up to the Trump Administration” when they believe “there is overreach by the federal government.”

“We can and should oppose the Trump Administration when there is overreach or when its activities don’t align with our Seattle values,” Smith said. “At the same time, we need leaders to continue to make progress on our top priorities here at home and not let the mayhem of what is happening federally distract from making progress on quality-of-life issues.”

Heather Bosch is a reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of her stories here.

Frank Lenzi is the News Director for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here.