More Chicagoans view Mayor Brandon Johnson unfavorably than favorably ahead of 2027 mayoral race, Suffolk-Tribune poll says

With less than a year until Chicago's next mayoral election and amid a growing field of prospective candidates, more city residents hold a dim view of incumbent Brandon Johnson than a positive one about his often-chaotic first term at City Hall, a new poll shows.

The Suffolk University/Chicago Tribune poll of 500 adult residents, conducted April 11-15, found 44% viewed the mayor unfavorably, while just 34% viewed him favorably. The remainder were undecided or said they had never heard of him. The poll, conducted by David Paleologos, director of Suffolk University's Political Research Center, carries an overall margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.

The numbers spell an uphill road to reelection for Johnson, the former teachers union organizer and Cook County commissioner who rode the progressive lane to become mayor in 2023 after defeating incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot and six others in the first round before edging former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas 52% to 48% in the runoff election.

Johnson has not formally announced a reelection bid for the 2027 race, though his team has expressed confidence he will win a second term. But that confidence may be put to a test as potential challengers included in the survey posted stronger favorability scores than Johnson - though the city residents surveyed displayed significant levels of unfamiliarity with those possible rivals.

Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who is seeking reelection to his state office in November against nominal GOP opposition, has already amassed an $18.3 million campaign bankroll. He was viewed favorably by 42% of respondents and unfavorably by just 7%, while 36% had never heard of him. Another 15% were undecided about Giannoulias.

State Comptroller Susana Mendoza, who opted not to seek reelection to her state post to explore a potential mayoral bid, drew favorable ratings from 38% and unfavorable ratings from 11% of respondents. Despite a 2019 mayoral run in which she failed to make the runoff among 14 candidates, 30% of those surveyed said they had never heard of the former city clerk and state lawmaker, and 21% were undecided.

North Side U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, a former county commissioner who has served in Congress for 17 years, said in January he planned to run for mayor. Quigley, who can tap his federal campaign funds for a municipal run, was viewed favorably by 21% and unfavorably by 12%. Another 18% were undecided, while nearly half of those city residents polled, 49%, had never heard of him.

While the poll was conducted among adult residents and not from registered voting lists, the attitudes of city residents likely reflect the sentiments of the city's voting population at large.

With race and ethnicity always a factor in Chicago politics, white respondents had the most unfavorable view of the city's Black mayor, at 54%, while 27% of white respondents viewed Johnson favorably. A total of 43% of Black adults polled and 39% of Latinos had a favorable view of Johnson, just slightly ahead of the 38% of Black residents surveyed and 32% of Latinos who viewed the mayor unfavorably.

Residents identifying themselves as Democrats, who made up 48% of the polling sample, held a 44% favorable view of Johnson, while 35% viewed him unfavorably. Among those calling themselves independents, who represented 34% of poll respondents, 49% held an unfavorable view of Johnson, compared with 27% who held a favorable view.

Residents' attitudes toward their city also reflected their views of Johnson.

A total of 30% said they considered Chicago an "excellent" place to live, and among those residents, half had a favorable view of Johnson as mayor. Among the 26% who said Chicago was only a "fair" place to live, 47% had an unfavorable view of Johnson, and among the 8% who labeled Chicago "poor," 80% viewed him unfavorably.

More than half of the city residents surveyed, 57%, said life in Chicago was at least somewhat affordable, while 42% said city life was at least somewhat unaffordable. But about 44% of residents on either side of the affordability issue viewed Johnson unfavorably.

When asked the most important issue facing Chicago, nearly 1 in 4 cited crime, an issue that once again drew headlines following the Saturday shooting of two Chicago police officers at a North Side hospital. The second-most important issue facing Chicago was the economy and jobs at 21%, followed by housing at 10%, and local response to President Donald Trump's actions at 9%, federal immigration activities at 8%, schools and education at 7%, racism, justice or equality at 6%, police reform at 3% and transportation at 2%.

Among the residents who cited crime as their top concern, 59% held an unfavorable view of Johnson. But among those who cited federal immigration activities and actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, a narrow plurality viewed him more favorably, 47%, than unfavorably, 42%.

Though crime was named the top issue by a plurality of poll respondents, their answers to other questions on the topic indicate that fear of crime has seeped into residents' consciousness, most likely because of conservative attacks by Trump and others, amplified by the national media, rather than personal experience.

Some 85% of respondents said they feel safe in their own neighborhood, and they were nearly evenly split on whether crime in their area had increased, decreased or stayed the same over the past year. Nearly two-thirds said concerns about crime had no effect on their decision to attend festivals and large-scale events, compared with 32% who said it made them less likely to go.

Nearly two-thirds of city residents also said they believed Chicago police officers generally do a good job and treat people of different races fairly, despite what was characterized as a "few bad apples on the force." Another 30% described Chicago police as being "racist in the way they treat people, even if some of them try to do a good job."

William Sampson, professor emeritus of public policy at DePaul University, said the seemingly contradictory answers over crime and feelings about Chicago reflect decades of national Republican messaging that has fused race and crime in the public imagination - a strategy he said Trump has pushed to new levels in a city that remains among the nation's most segregated.

"It's explained, I suspect, in large measure because Chicago is so segregated and because of the national narrative, subliminal narrative, that crime and Blackness are the same things. So Trump pushes that narrative every day," Sampson said.

"So folks in Chicago are hearing it on the news and they're seeing these young folks take over the Loop and that scares folks to death and it ought to," Sampson said. "But you need to stop and think: Why are they doing this? Because they want somebody to take them seriously. These are young people who believe they have no future in this society at all."

The survey also surfaced enduring public concerns over the police shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in October 2014 and the 13-month delay under then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel before the public release of body camera footage videos contradicting police statements.

McDonald's death prompted the city and the Chicago Police Department to act to outfit all patrol officers with body-worn cameras, and current law generally requires footage to be available within 60 days. But 80% of city residents surveyed in the poll said bodycam footage should be publicly available within 24 hours of an officer-involved shooting.

Additionally, 54% of city respondents said they would strongly or somewhat support redirecting some of the Chicago Police Department's budget for social services, such as helping the homeless and mentally ill. Among them, nearly one-third, 32%, said they would strongly support such a defunding of the police.

Sampson said the finding was a welcome recognition "that a lot more investment in social services is the answer," though he added that research points most strongly to early childhood education as the highest-impact use of such resources.

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This survey of 500 residents of the city of Chicago was conducted by David Paleologos, director of Suffolk University's Political Research Center, from April 11 to April 15, 2026, and is based on live telephone interviews of adults 18 years of age or older, residing in all 50 wards in the city of Chicago. Quota and demographic information - including region, race and age - were determined from census and American Community Survey data. Surveys were administered in English and Spanish. The margin of sampling error for results based on the total sample is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. All surveys may be subject to other sources of error, including but not limited to coverage error and measurement error.

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This story was originally published April 26, 2026 at 12:36 PM.