Emanuel poll shows Chicagoans happy with the job he’s doing

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Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks at a Cabinet meeting Friday. | Brooke Collins~City of Chicago photo

Updated: March 5, 2012 8:06AM

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s latest internal polls show him still popular with voters all over town despite some controversial budget moves, according to information his political operation is providing to supporters.

Half the 600 likely voters surveyed last month thought the city was moving in the right direction, up from 31 percent who felt Chicago was moving in the right direction in Sept. 2010 when Richard M. Daley was still mayor, according to a memo obtained by the Sun-Times.

Emanuel’s approval rating stands at 70 percent, down from 79 percent shortly after he took office. But Emanuel’s political organization told supporters that 70 percent is among the highest ratings in the country for a local political leader in this economy.

The only elected official more popular in Chicago than Emanuel is Obama, the survey found.

More than 70 percent of voters said they thought Emanuel was an effective manager and a strong leader.

Slightly more white voters (72 percent) than black voters (67 percent) said they approved of the job Emanuel is doing.

As Emanuel goes toe-to-toe with the teachers’ union, 63 percent of the voters said they approve of his stands on education issues and 75 percent support his decision to lengthen the school day.

The numbers were among selected results form the Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research survey shared with supporters.