Poll: D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Approval Rating Drops amid Crime Concerns

Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s (D) job approval rating has dropped from previous years, as there is a growing concern about the city’s rise in crime while she runs for a third consecutive term.

A recent Washington Post poll found that Bowser’s job performance, while positive at 58 percent, has dropped from previous years. The mayor’s disapproval sits at 37 percent.

In 2019, Bowser had a significantly higher job approval, 67 percent, and much smaller disapproval, 21 percent. The Post blamed her drop in approval from residents’ growing concern about crime, as the poll respondents gave her a negative rating.

When the respondents were asked what is the biggest problem facing D.C. the mayor should work hardest to solve, 36 percent said crime, violence, and guns as one category. This was the highest priority for the respondents and was twice a Post’s 2019 poll. The affordable housing issue garnered the second-largest percentage at 14 percent.

Over the same amount of time, respondents who said the city is headed in the right direction under Bowser had dropped from 59 percent to 49 percent. Additionally, broken up by race, 60 percent of the respondents who identified as white said the city was on the right track, while 54 percent of the respondents who identified as black said the city was going in the wrong direction.

When the respondents were asked directly how good a job Brower was doing at reducing crime, only 23 percent of the respondents said good, compared to the 73 percent who said poor.

The Washington Post poll was conducted between February 2 and 14, with a random sample size of 904 adult D.C. residents. The Post noted the sample included 579 registered Democrats and had an overall margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

Bowser opted not to respond to the Post‘s inquiry about the poll.

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter.