BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The results of a new poll on the Boston mayoral race are in, and City Councilor Michelle Wu is the big winner. According to the Suffolk University/Boston Globe-NBC10 poll, Wu is beating her mayoral rival City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George by more than 30 percentage points, collecting the vote of 61.6% of the people polled if the election were held today. The poll was taken after the televised debate on WBZ-TV last Wednesday.
Essaibi George netted 30% of those polled, with 7.2% of the field undecided and 1.2% refusing to answer. The group polled were 500 likely voters who live in Boston.
WBZ's Laurie Kirby spoke to Suffolk University pollster David Paleologos, who said the favorability scores on the poll were also tilted in Wu's favor:
"We always say that likability precedes electability. 71% of respondents in this poll are saying favorable to Michelle Wu," he said. "On the flip side, Annissa Essaibi George has struggled a bit with name recognition, she's only at 49% favorability, she also has the highest unfavorability," he continued.
About 60% of those polled self-identified as Democrats, 32% as Independent, and about 4% as Republicans.
The poll also looked into how the respondents felt about race-specific issues. About 7 in 10 expressed support for general employee vaccine mandates and an elected school committee in Boston. About 60% were in favor of rent control, and said they did not care where a candidate was born and raised. On the other hand, a third of the respondents said it was important for candidates running for Boston elected positions to be from Boston.
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