"Crime and public safety" rank highest among top issues by Chicago voters ahead of the Feb. 28 municipal election, particularly when choosing the next mayor, according to results released this week from an independent poll commissioned by Telemundo Chicago, NBC 5, the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ.
The poll, conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, Inc. between Jan. 31 and Feb. 3, asked 625 registered Chicago voters which topics were most important to them in determining their vote for Chicago mayor.
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Of those voters, 44% picked crime and public safety, 13% chose criminal justice reform, and 12% picked the economy and jobs. Other topics receiving 6% or less included education, immigration, city taxes and spending, housing/homelessness, public corruption, drugs, transportation, and public health.
On Wednesday, results from the poll showed a potential three-way tie among mayoral candidates and a certain runoff if the election took place today. According to the opinions of those 625 voters, Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, Paul Vallas and Lightfoot would all finish closely together, with Garcia receiving 20% of the overall vote, Vallas receiving 18% and Lightfoot receiving 17%.
Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, Inc. determined the potential margin for error of the results of the poll to be no more than plus or minus 4 percentage points. That puts Willie Wilson, who the poll determined would receive 12% of the vote, and Brandon Johnson, who would receive 11% of the vote, into potential contention as well.
Coming Up: NBC 5 is hosting a Chicago Mayoral Forum with all nine mayoral candidates on Feb. 13. Here's how to watch.
An additional contender in the virtual tie is the undecided voter. According to the poll's findings, 18% of those interviewed said they were currently undecided when asked which candidate would get their vote.
In results released Thursday, the poll also gauged voters' opinions on a range of other topics, such as the city's relationship with law enforcement, their perceived level of safety and ways to reduce crime in Chicago.
When asked, "Overall, would you say that relations between local law enforcement and the community in Chicago are generally positive or generally negative?" voters overwhelmingly chose "negative." Of the poll group, 65% said relations between police and the community were negative, while 30% said positive and 5% said they weren't sure.
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When broken down by race and ethnicity, most of the polled voters who said relations between police and the Chicago community were negative identified themselves as either Black or Hispanic, 85% and 63% respectively. Of those who said relations were positive, most were white at 43%, followed by 32% Hispanic and 13% Black.
Results varied around a question regarding safety in the city. Voters were asked how safe they personally feel from gun violence and crime in Chicago: very safe, somewhat safe, not too safe or not at all safe.
While 35% of polled voters said they feel not at all safe, 33% said they feel somewhat safe and 28% said not too safe. Only 4% of voters interviewed for the poll said they feel very safe.
Crime continued to be a priority among those polled when asked which topic should have a higher priority in Chicago: reducing crime or reforming the criminal justice system. At 58%, a majority of polled voters chose crime, and 37% chose justice reform.
When it comes to how the city should reduce crime, 36% of polled voters choosing from a slate of options said the most effective method to do so is to "provide more job training and economic opportunity for residents." The second most popular option, chosen by 26% of polled voters, was "hire more police officers," and the third popular, "provide more mental health resources," was chosen by 22% of polled voters. The fourth, "focus more on community policing," was chosen by 10%. Only 6% said they weren't sure.
When it comes to how the criminal justice system handles those arrested for certain violent crimes, such as carjacking, armed robbery and home invasion, voters overwhelmingly said they disapproved of how they're handled. Only 21% said they approved.
The pool of registered voters included in the poll were interviewed by Mason-Dixon by phone. Of those interviewed, 46% were male and 53% were female. In addition, 36% identified as White/Caucasian, 30% Black/African American, 27% Hispanic/Latino and 3% Asian. The remaining group either refused to identify or chose "other."
The age breakdown of interviewees included the following groups: 18-34 (15%), 35-49 (28%), 50-64 (30%) and 65+ 164 (26%). Four people, or 1%, refused to identify their age.
Chicago's mayoral election takes place on Tuesday, Feb. 28. A runoff election is slated for Tuesday, April 4.
