Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s favorability rating dropped to an all-time low this month, according to a new poll.
The blue city mayor’s favorability rating fell to just 6.6% with a 79.9% unfavorable rating, which is significantly lower than that of five other hypothetical candidates for the 2027 Chicago mayoral race, according to a M3 Strategies poll published Feb. 22. The survey’s findings closely follow a number of reports on Chicago residents’ growing disapproval of Johnson’s handling of several key issues, including crime and illegal immigration.
When asked who they would vote for if the election for mayor “were held today,” Chicago respondents ranked longtime Illinois politician and former Democratic mayoral candidate Paul Vallas at the top of the list with 27.4%, followed by Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias at 21%, Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza with 11.7% and Johnson with just 8.2% support.
Giannoulias also received a higher favorability rating than Johnson, at 48.6% with a 14.3% unfavorable rating, while Mendoza had a 38% favorability rating and a 14.6% unfavorable rating.
Like Johnson, other lawmakers received similarly low approval ratings, such as Democratic Alderman Bill Conway of Chicago’s 34th ward, who received a favorability rating of just 14.6% and a 12% unfavorable rating, and Democratic Illinois State Rep. Kam Buckner who had a favorability rating of 17.6% and an unfavorable score of 15.4%, according to the poll.
Of those surveyed, 67% said that the top issue facing Chicago was crime, while 54% named high taxes as the biggest concern and 41% said inflation.
The poll marks a new record low for Johnson’s favorability among voters, as a Feb. 5 poll from the Illinois Policy Institute found that he had a 14% approval rating, which was the lowest approval rating in Chicago mayoral history at the time.
The sanctuary city has faced an unprecedented influx of illegal immigrants since August 2022, with more than 51,000 migrants having arrived in Chicago from the southern border, according to the city’s website. Johnson has remained a staunch defender of the city’s sanctuary status, having promised to push back against the Trump administration’s stringent immigration enforcement agenda shortly after Trump was reelected.
The Windy City has also been plagued with rampant crime in recent years. Aggravated assaults in Chicago climbed to a 20-year high at 8,039 in 2024, while aggravated batteries increased 3.1% the same year, totaling 9,132, according to a January report from the Illinois Policy Institute.
Johnson was elected to lead the Windy City in April 2023 and has faced criticism on his handling of several key issues since. Many Chicago residents have criticized the city’s massive illegal migrant housing crisis, which has cost Chicago taxpayers more than $400 million over a two year period, NBC 5 Chicago reported. The mayor has also faced backlash for comments he made during a radio show in December 2020, during which he called defunding the police a “real political goal.”
In September 2023, Johnson confirmed that he intends to run for reelection in the next Chicago mayoral election. The Chicago mayoral primary is set for Feb. 23, 2027.
The M3 Strategies poll surveyed 696 likely Chicago voters from Feb. 20 to Feb. 21, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.71 percentage points.
A spokesperson for Mayor Johnson’s office did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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