Voters Want Michelle Wu to Be the Next Mayor of Boston
By Ryan O'Donnell, Gustavo Sanchez, and Brian Burton
As election day approaches, municipal voters in Boston are demonstrating a strong preference for Michelle Wu to become the next mayor of Boston over competitor Annissa Essaibi George. This can be seen most prominently in their favorability ratings alongside other well known Massachusetts Democrats. Across these likely voters, Wu receives a net favorable rating by a +42-point margin compared to George’s weaker +10-point favorable margin.
These findings are further bolstered when one breaks down favorability by demographic, where Wu receives a net favorable rating among every polled demographic, and sees a particularly strong +69-point net favorability among Black voters in Boston.
In contrast, we find George receives weaker favorables across all demographics, and even sees net unfavorable ratings among younger voters and Black voters in the city.
These trends extend to voters’ predicted decisions at the ballot box as well: across all likely voters, Wu leads George in vote choice by a decisive +25-point margin. This outcome is consistent across nearly every demographic group with the notable exception once again being the small number of Boston Republican voters, who preferred George by a +52-point margin.
These findings indicate that Wu maintains a strong lead with Boston voters across demographic lines. Her candidacy presents a significant hurdle to George’s campaign should she be able to maintain her commanding lead and continue to further solidify her position in the race.
We also found strong support among Boston voters for a Green New Deal Agenda that would enable the Boston City Council to pursue policies to invest in green energy and promote clean air and water for residents. Boston voters support pursuing a Green New Deal Agenda by a significant +60-point margin — including Democrats by a +85-point margin and Independents by +34-point margin.
We also find a strong majority of Boston voters also support making public transportation usage free by a +39-point margin. Democrats and Independents both support the proposal by +59 and +20 point margins, respectively, as do majorities of Black, White and Latino/a voters, and those with and without college degrees.
Read or download the full poll crosstabs and methodology below.
Methodology
From October 14 to 18, 2021, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 507 likely voters in Boston, Massachusetts using SMS and web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±4 percentage points.
Brian Burton (@Brian_C_Burton) is a Senior Polling Analyst at Data for Progress.
Gustavo Sanchez (@lgsanchezconde) is a Principal at Data for Progress.
Ryan O’Donnell (@RyanODonnellPA) is the Electoral Director at Data for Progress.