October 7, 2013

PBI/CSULA Poll shows L.A. voters give high marks to Mayor Garcetti for first 100 days
LAPD and DWP work draw majority approval, though 25% of voters strongly disapprove of DWP Contacts: Raphael Sonenshein, Director, PBI/CSULA Poll, (323) 343 3770 Susan Pinkus, SH Pinkus Research Associates, (323) 650 3107

Los Angeles, Ca.A Pat Brown Institute (PBI)/California State University, Los

Angeles Poll (PBI/CSULA Poll) released today found registered voters give high marks and a 56 percent approval rating to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti for his first 100 days as mayor. The 501 registered voters who responded to the PBI/CSULA Poll said that, along with the 56 percent approval rating, there was a 5-1 edge between positive and negative evaluations of the mayors work, and an 11 percent disapproval rate. The findings were consistent across Los Angeles broad and ethnically diverse communities. The poll also found that voters are still getting to know the new mayor, with onethird of voters having yet to form an opinion about the mayors performance. Among those who voted for his top opponent during the election, Wendy Greuel, 40 percent indicated they were unsure, while more approved than disapproved of Garcettis work. Though the majority of voters hold positive views of Garcetti personally, relatively few offered specific reasons for either liking or disliking him. A majority of voters said they did not know enough about him to form an opinion about him personally. Mayor Garcetti is getting good reviews from the voters as he introduces himself as the citys most visible public official. The council presidency, his previous position, is not as well known to voters, said Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of PBI and director of the PBI/CSULA Poll. The voters do not yet know him well, but they seem to be giving him a strong opening to become successful.

As the new mayor settles in, voters are split about the direction of the city, with a 42-41 plurality stating that the city is going in the wrong direction. This is similar to the result found in the PBI/CSULA mayoral poll in May. The poll also found that voters believe the most critical issues the city faces are the economy and job creation (29 percent), congestion and overcrowding (14 percent) and crime, violence, and drugs (13 percent).

The LAPD and the DWP

The PBI/CSULA Poll inquired about voters approval of the performance of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the Department of Water and Power (DWP) since the mayor took office. The LAPD received majority approval among those polled, with a 64-30 percent margin. Fifteen percent of voters strongly disapproved, a view held by roughly a quarter of African Americans and Latinos. The police department has long been a central focus of city politics, said Sonenshein. Its striking that the DWP is now also in the foreground as a source of political debate. While a majority of voters approve of the work of the DWP (55-38 percent), onequarter of voters strongly disapprove of the departments work. Seventy-eight percent of those voters who strongly disapproved of the DWP endorsed the view that the government protects special interests instead of people like me. One of Garcettis major challenges in his first 100 days was the negotiation of a new contract with DWP employees, which was covered heavily by local media. However, roughly three-quarters of the registered voters said they did not know enough about the crisis to have an opinion of the mayors handling of it. While attitudes and perceptions of the LAPD have had decades to evolve, the voters are still developing their views about the DWP, said Sonenshein. Full results of the PBI/CSULA poll will be released later this week.

Pat Brown Institute/CSULA Poll

First Hundred Days
Race/Ethnicity
Total White Black Hispanic Male

Gender
Female

Geography
Valley Non Valley

Mayor Approval Approve - Strongly 13% 14% 10% 15% 11% 15% 12% Approve - Somewhat 43% 47% 35% 42% 44% 42% 45% Disapprove - Somewhat 8% 7% 8% 10% 9% 7% 8% Disapprove - Strongly 3% 4% 7% 4% 4% 3% 4% Not Sure - Refused 33% 28% 39% 30% 32% 33% 32% Impression of Mayor Favorable - Very 11% 14% 5% 11% 12% 10% 8% Favorable - Somewhat 26% 32% 22% 24% 28% 25% 27% Unfavorable - Somewhat 5% 4% 6% 6% 5% 5% 5% Unfavorable - Very 2% 1% 5% 1% 3% 2% 2% Havent Heard Enough 55% 48% 63% 57% 52% 57% 58% Not sure - Refused 1% * 0% 1% * 1% 0% Things in City are Going in Right Direction or on Wrong Track Right Direction 41% 40% 31% 41% 49% 34% 37% Wrong Track 42% 48% 41% 42% 36% 47% 48% Not sure - Refused 17% 12% 27% 16% 15% 18% 15% Approve or Disapprove of Mayors Handling of New Contract with Department of Water and Powers Employees Approve - Strongly 6% 7% 13% 2% 7% 5% 6% Approve - Somewhat 6% 9% 14% 3% 7% 6% 7% Disapprove - Somewhat 3% 4% 0% 2% 4% 2% 6% Disapprove - Strongly 4% 5% 3% 2% 4% 4% 5% Havent Heard Enough 79% 74% 68% 91% 77% 81% 76% Not sure - Refused 1% 1% 2% 1% * 2% * Approve or Disapprove of the Way the Los Angeles Police Department is doing its Job Approve - Strongly 27% 32% 16% 22% 30% 24% 27% Approve - Somewhat 38% 39% 32% 36% 38% 38% 42% Disapprove - Somewhat 15% 15% 23% 12% 14% 16% 13% Disapprove - Strongly 15% 10% 23% 25% 16% 15% 14% Not Sure - Refused 6% 5% 6% 5% 2% 8% 4% Approve or Disapprove of the Way the Department of Water and Power is doing its Job Approve - Strongly 22% 19% 18% 31% 26% 19% 24% Approve - Somewhat 33% 30% 45% 38% 32% 35% 31% Disapprove - Somewhat 10% 12% 11% 6% 10% 11% 11% Disapprove - Strongly 28% 30% 15% 22% 28% 28% 29% Not Sure - Refused 6% 9% 10% 3% 5% 7% 6% Most Important Problem Facing Los Angeles Today Nothing in Particular 1% 1% 1% 2% 1% 2% 1% City Govt/Corruption 10% 10% 4% 9% 11% 9% 12% Violence/Crime/Drugs 13% 6% 25% 14% 11% 15% 7% Economy/Jobs 29% 26% 30% 37% 31% 27% 27% Education/ 9% 8% 11% 7% 9% 10% 8% School Violence Congestion/ 14% 22% 6% 9% 15% 12% 15% Overcrowding Transportation/ 7% 6% 4% 4% 6% 7% 8% Street Maintenance Something Else 12% 17% 10% 9% 12% 13% 15% Not Sure 6% 3% 10% 8% 5% 6% 5%

15% 41% 7% 3% 34% 14% 25% 5% 1% 53% 1% 43% 39% 17% 7% 7% 1% 3% 81% 2% 24% 35% 17% 17% 7% 21% 35% 10% 27% 7% 1% 8% 16% 30% 10% 13% 6% 10% 6%

How the Poll Was Conducted The nonpartisan Pat Brown Institute (PBI)/California State University, Los Angeles Poll, contacted 687 adults in the city of Los Angeles by telephone October 2 to 5, 2013. The poll was conducted under the direction of Susan Pinkus, PBI polling consultant. The poll reached 501 registered voters. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges in the city, and random digit dialing techniques allowed listed and unlisted numbers, as well as cellphone numbers, to be contacted. Multiple attempts were made to contact each number. Adults in the sample were weighted slightly to conform with their respective census proportions by gender, ethnicity, age, education, city region, and cell phone usage. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 points. For certain subgroups, the error margin may be somewhat higher. Poll results may also be affected by factors such as question wording and the order in which questions are presented. Interviews and data collection were conducted by Abt SRBI of New York. While Asian Pacific Islander voters were interviewed and are included as part of the overall results in this poll, they were too small a subgroup of the sample to be examined in detail. Interviews were conducted in both English and Spanish. CSULA political science professors Gar Culbert and Scott Bowman, as well as Adam Sonenshein, assisted in the design of the questionnaire and the analysis of the poll.