SEATTLE — Seattle residents generally feel good about the city and a majority approve of Mayor Bruce Harrell’s job performance, but fewer are happy with the City Council, a recent poll shows.
A Seattle Times/Suffolk University poll conducted earlier this month also shows voters are looking for an ideological reset of the council in a year when seven of nine seats are on the ballot.
When asked how they would rate Seattle as a place to live, 40.8% of respondents said “good” and 25.8% said “excellent,” while 23% described it as “fair.” Only 9.2% felt it was “poor,” and just over 1% said they were undecided or refused to answer.
Their opinions on city leaders were more of a mixed bag.
Respondents seemed largely optimistic about Harrell’s leadership, about a year and a half into his four-year term, with 57.2% saying they approve of his job so far, 23.8% undecided and 18.6% disapproving.
“He has a vision of what he wants, whether I agree with it or not, and I think having a plan, communicating it and working towards it is always better than having lots of ideas and getting mired down,” said Mary Bowen, a 54-year-old tech worker and poll respondent who lives in Queen Anne, on Friday.
“With things like encampments, homelessness and drugs, there seems to be a heightened focus and more information about taking actions and then reporting the results,” Bowen added.
The mayor’s office similarly attributed Harrell’s popularity to visible changes regarding public safety.
Seattle residents “are seeing tangible progress over the last year and a half — in public safety, homelessness, downtown revitalization, and other critical issues — reflecting the Harrell administration’s continued urgency and commitment to create the Seattle we all want to see,” Jamie Housen, Harrell’s communications director, wrote in an email Friday after The Times shared poll results with the mayor’s office.
However, only 34.4% of respondents approved of the Seattle City Council’s job performance, while 48.2% disapproved and 17.2% were undecided.
Several council members attributed at least some of their struggling public perception to the fact that the rating encompasses all nine members, some of whom people are bound to disagree with.
“Poll respondents typically round deliberative bodies down to the member they like least,” Councilmember Andrew Lewis, who is running for a second term, wrote Thursday after viewing the poll results. “Congress has an approval rating of 20%.”
“The fact [that] two-thirds of residents believe Seattle is a good or excellent place to live, and less than 10% believe it is poor, is a reflection of the impact city government and city employees are having to [bring] Seattle back from the depths of the pandemic,” wrote Lewis, who represents District 7, which includes downtown.
The council’s newest member, Sara Nelson, who took office in January 2022 and is not on the ballot again until 2025 as one of two citywide members, said the council has earned its reputation.
“Seattleites see a city where street crime, homicides, overdose fatalities, open drug use, and the homelessness crisis have generally gotten worse, not better, over the past few years,” Nelson wrote in a statement Friday. “We only earn back their trust by being accountable to them — by investing public resources in a way that makes real progress on these challenges. That’s the way to change perception.”
There are 45 candidates vying for Seattle’s seven district council seats; ballots for the primary election are typically mailed out in mid-July, with the election ending Aug. 1. Many — much like the current council — bring either a progressive-left or more centrist platform.
In 2021, candidates who leaned progressive-left — driven by social issues like police reform and heightened activism — fell short in most city races, which were won by business-backed, moderate candidates like Harrell, Nelson and City Attorney Ann Davison, a Republican.
Poll respondents suggested support for that pendulum swing with 41.6% calling the council “too liberal” and just 10.8% calling it “too conservative.” An additional 31.4% were content with the council’s current politics, while 15.2% were undecided and 1% refused to answer.
But many residents say their perspective on the council is more about a craving for action rather than any specific ideology.
“Maybe it needs to be fresh legs from people [who] haven’t been worn down by the current process,” Bowen said.
The negative sentiment toward the council has also pushed out some members, with four incumbents choosing not to seek reelection at the end of their terms, some of whom cited public reactions as a reason for leaving.
But, with seven of nine seats on the ballot, including the four incumbents not seeking reelection — Councilmembers Lisa Herbold, Kshama Sawant, Alex Pedersen and council President Debora Juarez — some voters find hope in a refresh.
Sarah Canavese, 35, is a public health worker and poll respondent who lives in South Seattle. While she “tends to be more progressive,” she agreed the political ideologies of council members aren’t the biggest issue for her.
“I understand the value of centrism, and I don’t mind if they decide to go that route, but you’ve got to have people who are still willing to stand for some of the progressive policies that have helped get them elected in the past,” said Canavese, noting that she wants to see more humane approaches to drug intervention and homelessness.
“Whoever it is has to figure out how to address the root causes better than they have been,” she added.
Councilmember Dan Strauss, who is seeking a second term in November, somewhat agrees, noting that a lack of teamwork has stymied the current council on certain issues.
“Some of my colleagues are committed to collaboration and moving our city forward in the right direction, and some of my colleagues are divisive and like to grandstand,” Strauss said Friday, crediting Juarez and Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda as collaborative colleagues. He chose not to name those whom he called “divisive.”
The phone poll was conducted June 12-16 and has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.
More poll results will be released in the coming days on subjects including public safety, schools and homelessness.
