Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson’s support has dropped sharply since spring, according to new polling.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson’s support has dropped sharply since spring, according to new polling that also shows voters giving her administration low marks on public safety.
The poll released Thursday morning puts Wilson’s favorability at 37%, down 20 percentage points since April. About 62% of voters view Wilson unfavorably.
A Mayor Katie Wilson favorability poll by Fulcrum Strategy Group for Seattle Metro Chamber.The online survey of 500 registered voters was commissioned by the Seattle Metro Chamber and conducted over a several-day period starting Aug. 10.
On public safety, voters gave the Wilson administration a “D” or “D+” rating on all six issues tested.
Those issues included:
- Providing transparent information to the public
- Reducing crime and homeless camps
- Making the city safer
- Managing the response to the Bite of Seattle shooting at Seattle Center
- Addressing public drug use.
The polling results come several days after a Seattle couple filed paperwork to recall Wilson over her handling of public safety. A court hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 31. If a judge approves the effort, recall supporters would have 180 days to gather signatures for a recall election — roughly 69,000. If King County Elections determines enough verified signatures have been collected, a recall election would then be conducted.
In recent weeks, Wilson abruptly removed Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes from his position in the aftermath of the deadly Bite of Seattle shooting and has faced questions about the city’s CCTV camera system.
In Wilson’s first seven months in office, she turned off surveillance cameras in the Stadium District, then turned them on for several weeks during the FIFA World Cup, then ordered them to be turned off again.
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KOMO senior reporter Chris Daniels asked Wilson about those cameras on Wednesday.
“We're continuing to follow the course that I laid out earlier this year, which is that as we speak, there is an audit being conducted of our privacy, data security, storage sharing practices for our CCTV system. We respect, or we expect the results of that audit to be coming out, I believe, around the end of September. So that will be a decision point,” Wilson said.
Voter attitudes toward the Seattle City Council were described as relatively stable compared with attitudes toward the mayor.
Overall, voters give the City Council a 41% favorable rating, with progressive and liberal voters giving similar ratings, while moderate and conservative voters were described as very negative toward the council.
When it comes to the Seattle Police Department, the survey found attitudes have not changed much since April, with 56% of Seattle voters giving the department a favorable rating.
The poll found voters who identify as liberal were closer to moderate and conservative voters than to progressives in their attitudes about SPD.
