Seattle voters show increased optimism about city's direction, new survey finds

SEATTLE — A new survey suggests Seattle’s registered voters are more optimistic about the city’s direction than even a few months ago.

The Seattle Metro Chamber released what it calls The Indexon Tuesday and says public safety and homelessness still remain the key issues to maintain the progress.

“The headline is optimism,” said Chamber President Rachel Smith in a presentation of the findings on Tuesday. The poll of 700 voters was conducted in September and has been done frequently to track voter moods in the city.

Smith, alongside Andrew Thibault, senior principal at EMC Research presented the findings and said there has been a notable shift in people who approve of the direction of the city. In the Spring of 2024, only 35% of voters approved of the direction, and 48% did in the September survey. Another 52% felt the city was headed on the wrong track, down from 61% in the same time frame. “These data points represent the largest increase since we started doing this research,” she said.

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Smith and Thibault also suggested that voters' attitudes are changing on affordability, taxes, public safety, and homelessness. The latter two issues represent the biggest concerns in the survey but with a steep decline since the last snapshot.

This comes at a time when the city has had some wins, between opening the new Aquarium Ocean Pavilion, and Overlook Walk. Preparations are also underway to host the 2025 Club World Cup and 2026 World Cup at Lumen Field.

Yet, it is hard to argue against the challenges faced by the retail core and commercial spaces. Colliers reported that office vacancies have risen to 30% in the third quarter of 2024.

“When we look at this data, it tells the same story as why we see those vacancies, which is really around public safety and this sort of notion of street disorder. I think we need to do two things. One, get that under control, both in reality and perception, making sure that people are safe when they come downtown and that they feel safe when they come downtown.,” she said.

Brandon Cockburn says he’s lived in Seattle for 40 years and has seen the highs and lows. He stopped while walking his three dogs on the new Overlook Walk.

“It’s improving,” he said without hesitation. “Homelessness is an issue. I think the biggest problem that I see overall, for the impression of the city is the impression of the city.”

Leyla Farange has been a vocal critic of the city’s handling of Third Avenue in the city’s core. It has been a hotspot for open air drug use, and she says her small ‘Gyro Place’ restaurant has been negatively impacted. But on Tuesday, she walked down the street with little concern, noting that no one was yelling or in a drug-induced crisis.

“It’s day and night. It's much better. They're really working hard to clean up. The CARE team is out. They're taking care of the people they need help. It's definitely much better, much, much better,” she said.