Nearly half of Chicago voters oppose 2nd term for Lightfoot, poll shows
CHICAGO - Mayor Lori Lightfoot appears determined to run for re-election but a new voter opinion survey indicates she'll face some challenges.
A polling company that has been tracking the mayor's standing with Chicago voters said that for the first time, more Chicagoans oppose than favor a second term for her.
Asked if Lightfoot deserves a second term at City Hall, just 26% said "yes;" 46% said "no," with 28% responding "not sure."
The survey which questioned 401 respondents was done by pollster Ogden & Fry, owned by Republican activist Matt Podgorski of the Northwest Side.
The respondents were selected by random sampling of likely voters and the margin of error was plus-or-minus 4.99 percentage points.
"For anybody who is considering running, those are obviously encouraging numbers that I think at least right now the snapshot in time is that Chicago is done with Mayor Lightfoot," Podgorski said.
The results come despite the fact that voters strongly agree with the mayor's vaccine mandate for city employees: 66% said "yes" and only 31% said "no."
Asked how should the city treat employees, including police and firefighters, who fail to disclose their vaccination status, 52% say yes "fire them," endorsing Lightfoot's threatened no pay status discipline.
Nearly 80% of those polled said they voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
With the first round of the mayoral election more than 16 months away, there is plenty of time to turn it around but it appears she has work to do.