Most local voters think Long Beach is headed in the wrong direction, poll finds

The number of local voters optimistic about Long Beach’s future has dropped by double digits in recent years, according to a poll the city recently commissioned for internal research.

A sampling of just over 1,000 likely voters found only 34% of them said Long Beach was headed in the right direction while 51% said it was on the wrong path.

Those are the most pessimistic numbers in years, according to polling data the Long Beach Post obtained through a public records request and reported here for the first time.

In another poll taken about two months earlier, voters overwhelmingly cited homelessness as the most serious issue facing Long Beach.

Housing, inflation, cost of living and crime also ranked as top concerns.

City leaders commissioned the pair of polls as they gauge voters’ willingness to pass new taxes and fees to offset dwindling oil revenue. Options include raising the cost of business licenses, increasing taxes on property sellers, or charging higher fees to local power plants and electricity providers.

Of those options, voters were most likely to support raising taxes on local power plants.

City Manager Tom Modica said he wasn’t surprised or alarmed by the number of people who said they were unsatisfied with Long Beach’s current course.

“I think we’re all very well aware that coming out of the pandemic, it’s a tough time right now,” he said.

The results, he said, are “a snapshot in time of how are voters feeling in that general moment.”

The most optimistic numbers recently recorded were in January 2021 — right around the time Long Beach was beginning to distribute vaccines during the height of the pandemic — when 60% of voters surveyed said Long Beach was headed in the right direction and only 26% said it was on the wrong track.

Making progress on homelessness and housing crises will be key in turning around people’s views on Long Beach’s future, Modica said.

Voters in Long Beach are not alone in their sentiments, according to Rick Sklarz, a senior vice president at FM3 Research, which conducted the polling for Long Beach.

There’s widespread frustration with the intractability of homelessness, gas prices, rising housing costs and inflation, according to Sklarz, who said those concerns surface when pollsters ask general questions about voters’ overall feelings.

“If we asked that question statewide, the wrong track is more like 60% and even a little higher than that sometimes,” he said. “And that’s similar for LA County as a whole. It’s more like 60% wrong track.”

Voters were more optimistic when looking at their own neighborhood in Long Beach, with 40% saying it was on the right track and 49% saying it headed in the wrong direction.

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