Wu gets high marks from voters in think tank’s survey

THE THINK TANK that caused a stir inside and outside Boston City Hall with its report on the declining value of downtown office properties is now making a foray into polling with a survey indicating Mayor Michelle Wu has a high approval rating from voters.

The Boston Policy Institute, set up as a nonprofit last year by two political consultants, recently clashed with Wu over its analysis that the rise in remote work, left over from the pandemic, could lead to city budget woes amid falling values for commercial building, which account for nearly 60 percent of Boston’s property tax revenue. Wu said the report contained “false information” because it claimed there would be a budget “shortfall.”

But Wu, who is expected to run for a second term in 2025, might find a lot to like in the think tank’s new poll, which was publicly released Monday.

The survey, conducted for the group by national pollster John Della Volpe, asked about Wu’s job performance, among other topics. Fifty-seven percent of registered voters believe she is doing a good job, while 35 percent rate her negatively. 

Wu has faced criticism on her right and her left. Some in the business sector have been dissatisfied with her overhaul and new rules for the city’s development process, while others have criticized her for deploying police to roust pro-Palestinian protesters camped out in a public way by Emerson College.

Della Volpe said Wu is in “solid shape” amid a sour mood at the national level. “Overwhelming numbers of people are concerned about the direction that our nation is headed in,” he said. “Oftentimes those feelings are then kind of transferred to how folks view their state and their city. We’re not seeing that. We’re seeing a very different picture of Boston right now.”

The Boston Policy Institute survey, conducted through landlines, cell phones, and text invitations, asked 600 registered voters between April 8 and April 14 about tax rates, quality of life in the city, and Boston Public School performance. The poll comes with a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Publicly available polling across varying Boston issues has been a rarity since Wu won the top job in 2021. The new poll, while asking about quality of life and other topics, stayed away from controversial neighborhood-centric topics, like outdoor dining in the North End or the proposed renovation of White Stadium in Franklin Park.

The survey found 49 percent of the city’s voters would rather see an increase in the tax rate on commercial properties, as Wu has proposed through a home rule petition, than an increase in the tax rate on residential properties. Twenty-eight percent say they want City Hall to consider cutting spending on city services, while 17 percent didn’t know how to respond or declined to say.

That’s in contrast to the reception Wu’s initiative is getting on Beacon Hill. When asked about the proposal on WBZ-TV last week, House Speaker Ron Mariano noted it was still in a City Council committee before adding, “I don’t think that there’s a real appetite right now from anyone on the House side to talk about increased revenues at all.” Wu has said the proposal is revenue-neutral, and just shifts the tax burden to the commercial side. 

On the quality of life in Boston, four out of five voters told Della Volpe it’s either excellent or good, and 60 percent say life has improved or stayed the same. Thirty-two percent say life has gotten worse, with half of those respondents pointing to the cost of living as the main culprit.

Voters rate City Hall well on public safety and economic opportunities but feel more can be done on the cost of living and improving the quality of transportation and schools.

“There’s clearly work to be done but if I’m sitting in the mayor’s office, I’d feel pretty good with where I am right now,” Della Volpe said.

Feelings are particularly mixed when it comes to the city’s public schools. Thirty-six percent rated Boston Public Schools as “good,” while 25 percent said “not so good.” Thirteen percent said they were “poor” quality, and 23 percent declined to answer. White voters rated the schools less favorably than voters of color, according to the poll.

Among parents, 37 percent rated the schools as “good,” compared to 31 percent who rated them as “poor.”

Overall, voters voiced concerns about the management of school funding and the state of the system’s aging infrastructure. But when the survey told voters that Boston Public Schools spends roughly $31,000 per student, well over 50 percent said they still believe there is a need for more spending. A majority also backs closing old school buildings, as the Wu administration has proposed, to grapple with buildings that are below capacity.

The survey also asked about the “BPS Sundays” pilot program, in which Boston Public Schools students and up to three family members can visit six institutions for free, including the New England Aquarium and the Museum of Fine Arts, on the first two Sundays of every month until August. Critics say the program shouldn’t be limited to just BPS students, since it excludes parochial and charter school students.

Voter opinions on the issue were mixed. Thirty-eight percent said the pilot should continue to be limited to BPS students, while 43 percent said the program should be expanded. Seven percent said the program should be discontinued entirely.