Chicago has long touted itself as “the city that works,” a credo that captured its essence as a practically minded metropolis of people willing and able to set aside their differences — religious, ethnic and political — to pull the city forward. As we begin a new year, Harris Poll research shows that this fundamental Chicago pride endures. We love it here.
The description dates more than a half-century ago to Mayor Richard J. Daley. There is some irony, then, in how that civic optimism has become decoupled from the office Daley held for so long. A sharp demarcation has grown between our opinions about our city and our city government.
This disconnect illustrates the challenge Mayor Brandon Johnson faces. The forever issues that vexed his predecessors have made us more cynical about the power of any mayor to ensure that the city still, well, works. Johnson needs to prove that our basic sense of confidence in our city applies to Chicago’s political leadership.
As with most challenges, of course, this one holds a proportionate opportunity for Johnson to carve out his own place in the history of Chicago’s chief executives by reknitting that civic bond.
The good news for the first-term mayor is that city residents have a reservoir of optimism. In a poll we just conducted, 3 out of 4 city residents say they would recommend Chicago as a place to live and to visit. Four out of 5 also think that Chicagoland has more things to offer than other major metro areas, while 85% say they are proud to be a Chicagoan.
In addition, Chicagoans who are positive about the city’s trajectory outnumber those who are negative by slightly more than 4 to 3 (42% vs. 29%), according to The Harris Poll. And 41% — a solid plurality — also say Chicago is best described as “improving.”
That optimism does not extend to the day-to-day life of the city, however. Our polling shows that nearly all Chicago adults worry about public safety and a supermajority thinks crime is worse here than in other cities. Almost all of us are also troubled by a long list of other major issues including the local economy, taxes, affordable housing and health care.
What can Johnson do to reconcile this nagging negativism with residents’ baseline optimism?
More than halfway through his first year in office, he can claim some City Council victories. His “people’s budget,” which passed on a 41-8 vote, makes “strategic investments,” as the mayor put it, in public safety while also significantly funding infrastructure and shelter without raising property taxes.
The council also approved a binding referendum for March that will ask voters to approve a cornerstone of Johnson’s progressive agenda: hiking the real estate transfer tax on property sales of $1 million and up while lowering it below that threshold, to provide for housing for Chicagoans who are homeless.
These early wins have moved the needle of public opinion little. Nearly three-quarters of Chicagoans say they do not feel safer than they did before Johnson took office in May. And a majority — across all demographic groups — doubt that he will have a greater positive impact on marginalized neighborhoods than previous mayors.
The Loop needs his attention too. Nine in 10 residents agree that downtown Chicago is vital to the city’s overall health. Yet office-building occupancy is still only 55% of its pre-pandemic level, And the city’s top business-focused agencies — World Business Chicago and Choose Chicago — are now without permanent chief executives.
Such early reads are hardly conclusive, of course: Revitalizing a city of 2.6 million takes more than a few months. But it illustrates the intractable nature of the city’s problems and voters’ weary cynicism about the limits of political leadership.
Our polling highlights areas of opportunity for Johnson as well, however.
He remains a political mystery to Chicagoans. While 30% call him too progressive, 28% say his leadership is balanced, and 10% label him too traditional. The remaining 31% aren’t sure how to peg him. This could end up serving him well: Chicagoans prize accomplishment and pragmatism over ideological fidelity.
He can continue to leverage that by, for example, stepping up his efforts to engage the private sector — both for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations — to help revive the city. Effective leadership rallies all stakeholders and uses every resource available, after all. But except for young adults, majorities of all groups also think Johnson is doing too little in this regard.
The key, however, will be accomplishment — not simply getting the City Council to enact his agenda but also demonstrating through tangible results that the council, like the city, works. He needs to deliver on quality-of-life issues that transcend politics, such as public safety, affordable health care, job opportunities, a healthy local economy, and reasonable taxes and fees.
The mayor would help himself if he appealed to our hometown pride. Doing so would permit him to mobilize and leverage the abstract positive feelings we have and connect them to the daily facts of political life. People here sincerely want Chicago to be its best.
That includes business leaders who have a vested interest in seeing the Loop come back. Johnson just needs to ask for their help — and then show he’s listening by taking their well-intentioned advice.
If Johnson can make Chicago work, in other words, we all benefit.
Will Johnson is the Chicago-based CEO of The Harris Poll, a global public opinion, market research and strategy firm.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
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