Chicago

Emanuel's Poll Numbers Spike Following Public Safety Address

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s favorability rating jumped by more than 10 percent following his major public safety speech Thursday evening at Malcom X Junior College that outlined his plan to address Chicago’s pressing crime problem.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s favorability rating jumped by more than 10 percent following his major public safety speech Thursday evening at Malcolm X Junior College that outlined his plan to address Chicago’s pressing crime problem.

According to the poll, which was conducted by Victory Research following the mayor’s speech, over 53 percent of the 501 likely Chicago voters who responded said the mayor's speech made them more favorable toward the mayor, while 29 percent said less.

In addition, 44 percent of the poll’s respondents said they had a favorable opinion of Emanuel, while 52 percent said they had an unfavorable opinion. This accounts for an 11 percent jump from an earlier poll.

In that poll of 806 likely Chicago voters conducted between Sept. 19-21 by Victory Research, Emanuel received a 33 percent approval rating and a 60 percent disapproval rating. Only 30 percent of respondents said Emanuel should be re-elected if he chooses to run for another term.

In a series of hypothetical match-ups, the earlier poll showed potential 2019 mayoral candidate and Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart besting Emanuel by a nearly two-to-one margin, 61 percent to 31 percent, if the election were held today. According to the poll, Emanuel was also beat out by 2015 mayoral challenger and Cook County Commissioner Chuy Garcia by a margin of 51 percent to 36 percent. Additionally, Emanuel barely beat out potential 2019 challenger and Ald. Roderick Sawyer by a margin of 39 percent to 37 percent.

According to the latest poll, respondents showed overwhelming approval for two policy positions laid out in Thursday’s speech. Eighty percent of voters polled approved Emanuel’s proposal to hire nearly 1,000 new Chicago police officers, while only 14 percent oppose the idea.

Voters also favored Emanuel’s plan to put $36 million into a three year plan to expand mentoring programs in the city’s most violent neighborhoods by a margin of 63 percent to 28 percent, according to the poll.

Both polls were conducted by live callers in both mobile phone and land-line interviews. The margin of error for the first poll is 3.45 percent, while the margin of error for the second poll is 4.38 percent. According to Victory Research, the poll was independently funded.

Contact Us