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| EMANUEL: "Boo!", says the polls |
His
personal approval rating is barely over a quarter of Chicagoans, people have
little faith in the police department he oversees and they think so little of
him that they’re willing to back the Chicago Teachers Union in their ongoing
labor dispute with the mayor.
FOR
THE RECORD, some 70 percent of Chicagoans say they don’t believe the Police
Department provides equal protection to all city residents and visitors.
And
as for the teachers’ union, it seems that for every person who sides with
Emanuel in the attempts to negotiate a new contract, three people think the
union is correct.
Then,
of course, there is the other 20 percent who either have no opinion or are
undecided. In short, the people who are clueless – just like the roughly 10
percent who couldn’t say “yea” or “nay” to the question about police providing
equal protection.
I
have to confess to being amazed at the idea of 60 percent of those surveyed
siding with the Chicago Teachers Union, compared to 20 percent for Emanuel.
IF
THERE REALLY was such strong support for the union, you’d think that Emanuel
would not have done so well in last year’s municipal election cycle.
After
all, the teachers union made it clear all along that they wanted Emanuel out of
the mayor’s office. They were always the strongest backer of Jesus Garcia’s
mayoral aspirations. You’d think they could have beat him.
Instead,
while Emanuel didn’t get to win re-election without enduring a run-off
election, there was never really a sense that he was going to lose.
 |
| Do we really trust teachers union more than police? ... |
But
Emanuel is now in the pile of pig poop caused by the impression of all those
young black boys (they aren’t really old enough to be called ‘men’ yet) being
gunned down in cold blood. It would seem some people are just expressing the
knee-jerk negative thought toward Emanuel – no matter what the issue.
EVEN
THOUGH I’M not convinced that the Chicago Police are any more racist or vicious
toward black people than law enforcement officers in any other parts of the
country, the issue is being called out now in Chicago.
 |
| ... Or do we just despite Mayor Rahm that much?!? |
Which
probably is a good thing if it forces a serious discussion of what perceptions
are permitted to be held by our police officers. It probably is a discussion
needed nationwide – which is why the true racists would prefer to go overboard
in discussing Chicago’s problem.
It
means they can ignore the problem in their back yard. Just like those residents
of lily-white communities that have NO black people going out of their way to
say Chicago is the most-segregated city in the nation.
I
did find it interesting that the polls showed even a majority of white people
surveyed (53 percent) admitted Chicago police do NOT treat all people fairly –
compared to 85 percent of black people who expressed the same sentiment.
BUT
WE DO have a split in opinion. That same poll showed 59 percent of white people
surveyed think Emanuel is able to address the problem of racial taint within
the police department, while 61 percent of black people think he is not capable
of doing so.
Whereas
with the schools, some 35 percent of white people backed Emanuel in the
teachers’ union dispute, compared to 42 percent siding with the union. Those
figures get worse among black and Latino people (for the latter, only 13
percent would say they back Emanuel).
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| The target of all of this week's Tribune polls. Photograph by Gregory Tejeda |
We
probably don’t think much of Mayor Rahm these days. Although I still say we
probably don’t really trust anybody, which is the mayor’s saving grace.
Anybody
who tried to replace Rahm as mayor would wind up becoming even more detested
than Emanuel is these days. Not exactly the right pitch to attract a would-be
replacement, presuming the mayor could ever be urged to walk away from his post
prior to the 2019 election cycle.
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