From : A poll commissioned by the Austin Monitor with the help of sponsors shows that more people approve of Mayor Steve Adler鈥檚 job performance than that of City Council as a whole 鈥� with 51 percent of respondents endorsing Adler鈥檚 leadership, compared to 40 percent approval for Council.
The poll was conducted by phone from June 3-5 by Public Policy Polling of Raleigh, North Carolina, and included the opinions of 600 Austin voters. It has a margin of error of 4 percent. Jim Williams, who headed up the poll, spoke with the Monitor by phone on Friday to give his take on the results.
In addition to the approval ratings, 49 percent of those polled said they would vote to re-elect their Council members.
鈥淭he popularity of the mayor is definitely a notch above City Council, which we thought was interesting because the mayor is obviously part of City Council,鈥� said Williams. 鈥淚t suggests to me that he鈥檚 done something or has a profile that kind of insulates him from whatever dissatisfaction that people might have with what鈥檚 going on in city government.鈥�
The poll also inquired about issues facing Austin. Respondents overwhelmingly identified transportation as the chief issue facing the city 鈥� with 51 percent saying it was the 鈥渨orst thing about living in Austin.鈥� Second to transportation was housing, at 20 percent, followed by 鈥渟omething else.鈥�
鈥淚t is striking,鈥� said Williams. 鈥淢ost of the time, jobs and the economy is always a big issue no matter where you poll. Here it was like 3 percent. That鈥檚 unusual. And the transportation thing, it鈥檚 a super high level of dissatisfaction with that. 鈥� When you give people five or six choices and one gets to be higher than 50 percent, that鈥檚 a pretty high indication that people are really unhappy with that one issue. It鈥檚 rare to have that much agreement on anything.鈥�
Speaking of transportation, a majority of those polled continued to support Proposition 1, with 54 percent saying they approved of the way Council has handled the ride-hailing issue, compared to 40 percent who disapprove (and 6 percent who remain unsure).
In what could be related news, 41 percent of those polled think Council puts too many regulations on businesses. Thirty-seven percent think there are 鈥渁bout the right amount鈥� and only 16 percent think there are not enough regulations on businesses.
Williams found that reaction interesting, particularly in terms of how the opinions broke down by age.
鈥淣ormally on a question like that, the older you are, the more likely you are to be like 鈥榞overnment needs to get off my back,鈥� and young people are usually less concerned about stuff like that,鈥� said Williams. 鈥淏ut in this case, the youngest-age cohort is actually the most likely to say that they think there are too many regulations, and I think that鈥檚 a direct result of the ride-sharing issue.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen this in other places, too,鈥� he continued. 鈥淵oung people are really into this whole gig economy. They love the ride-sharing; they love companies like that. So when it gets shut down by City Council 鈥� they don鈥檛 like that.鈥�
The poll was made possible with the generous support of Big Red Dog, Buie & Co. Public Relations, Austin Music People, Perry Lorenz, David Armbrust, Richard Suttle, the Workers Defense Project and the Laborers鈥� International Union of North America.
