Opinion of Harris
slipping, poll shows
More voters also consider
his job performance "poor"
For the first time in his tenure as mayor, more people had an unfavorable opinion of Jeremy Harris than a favorable one, according to the latest Star-Bulletin/KITV-4 News poll.
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About two-thirds of those polled, however, said he was doing either a good or fair job.
Harris took an optimistic view of the poll numbers.
"He's pleased the public appreciates our efforts to revitalize Waikiki and Hanauma Bay, expand our parks and sports facilities, and make Honolulu one of the best-managed and safest cities in the nation," city spokeswoman Carol Costa said.
A total of 429 Oahu registered voters who are likely to vote in the primary election were polled by SMS Research from July 29 to last Tuesday and asked if they had a favorable, unfavorable or neutral opinion of the mayor. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.
Twenty-seven percent had a favorable opinion of the mayor, while 37 percent had an unfavorable opinion. About 29 percent said they were neutral, and 6 percent did not know.
When Harris was re-elected in September 2000, he enjoyed his highest approval rating with 61 percent of those surveyed having a favorable opinion of him.
But since then, he has been dogged by the city prosecutor's investigations of illegal political contributions made to his campaign.
In a separate question, a total of 512 registered voters were asked to rate the mayor's job performance. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.7 percentage points.
Eight percent of those questioned rated his job performance as excellent, 35 percent as good, 32 percent as fair, 18 percent as poor and 7 percent did not know.
At the height of his popularity, Harris had double-digit excellent ratings, with his "poor" rating as low as 7 percent.
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