An overwhelming majority of voters in the Portland area disapprove of how the progressive leadership in the city is handling matters.
A new poll revealed that 70% of all voters in the region don’t like what Mayor Ted Wheeler and the city council are doing in Portland, Oregon — one of the most progressive cities in the entire country.
The Oregonian, a local newspaper, talked to some of the participants in the poll. One anonymous voter said:
“I’ve seen Portland change dramatically in the last six or seven years, and I hate to say it’s not been for the better. I’m very dissatisfied with our government, our local government. I don’t think they’re doing their job at all. I will vote this time because I like to complain, but I’m not even sure it matters at this point.”
The recent survey was conducted by DHM Research for The Oregonian. It revealed that only 24% of registered voters in the region approve of the job that Wheeler is doing as the leader of the city. An astounding 70% find that the job he is doing is unacceptable.
The same poll revealed that the disapproval rating for the Portland City Council as a whole was 70%, and it had a net negative approval rating of -54%.
Jack Miller, a professor at Portland State University, commented to The Oregonian:
“There’s no doubt that if you walk or drive around Portland, you’ll be assaulted by evidence of city and county failures. Tents, garbage, potholes, traffic. As voters, we’re highly reactive to our immediate visual surroundings.”
People who live in Rose City said they believed that local leadership should be able to improve on how they’re handling the city’s homelessness problem. The survey revealed that 91% of those who responded don’t approve of how the government is approaching homelessness.
Similar disapproval ratings were given for how the city government is approaching other major issues, too. It showed that 78% don’t like how they’re trying to mitigate crime, and that number bumps up to 89% if you’re focusing only on drug addiction issues.
As The Oregonian laid out, Wheeler had the highest disapproval rating of any elected official, with a net negative rating of 46%.
The other officials with the highest net negative approval rating, according to the poll, were Jessica Vega Pederson, the chair of Multnomah County, at 31%; Mike Schmidt, the county’s district attorney, at 28%; and Kathryn Harrington, the chair of Washington County, at 10%.
The only elected official who had a negative rating that was in the single digits was Tootie Smith, the chair of Clackamas County, who’s net negative rating sat at 8%.
A large majority of 66% of voters in the region also said they believed that Portland isn’t on the right track.
Caleb Powell, a 22-year-old native of the city, commented:
“Our biggest problem is that they don’t seem interested in actually solving issues. They just want to talk about them.”
