Raleigh, N.C. – The Pacific Northwest has a good reputation nationwide–the two most popular of the 21 prominent cities we asked about in our national poll last weekend are Seattle and Portland, OR. 57% of American voters see Seattle favorably and only 14% unfavorably, edging out Portland (52-12) by three points on the margin.
The most unpopular is Detroit, which only 22% see positively and 49% negatively. Americans have net-negative impressions of only two other of these cities: Oakland, CA (21-39) and Los Angeles (33-40).
Between the pack are Boston (52-17), Atlanta (51-19), Phoenix (49-18), Dallas (48-21), New York (49-23), New Orleans (47-24), Houston (45-22), Salt Lake City (43-20), Philadelphia (42-22), San Francisco (48-29), Baltimore (37-24), Las Vegas (43-33), Chicago (42-33), Cleveland (32-25), Washington, D.C. (44-39), and Miami (36-33).
Perhaps because women are more likely to be Democrats than are men, and Democrats more likely to be in urban areas than are Republicans, women and Democrats are only negative on two cities (Oakland and Detroit), while men are on four (D.C., L.A., Oakland, and Detroit), and Republicans are on eight (Miami, Vegas, San Fran, D.C., Chicago, Oakland, L.A., and Detroit).
The biggest partisan gap is unsurprisingly for D.C. Democrats like it by a net 44 points, while Republicans dislike it by 24, for a 68-point gap. Not far behind are Chicago (Democrats by 61), L.A. (59), S.F. (51), N.Y. (41), Detroit (33), Vegas (Democrats by 32), Houston (Republicans by 32), Houston (GOP by 29), NOLA (Dems by 28), Baltimore (27), Oakland (25), Boston (24), Salt Lake (GOP by 22), Philly (Dems by 21), Seattle (17), Miami (15), Atlanta (14), Phoenix (GOP by 14), Cleveland (Dems by 11), and Portland (10).
The largest gap between black and white voters is on L.A., which black voters like by 35 points and white voters dislike by 16, for 51 points. That is followed distantly by D.C. (blacks by 34), Vegas and Chicago (30), Salt Lake (whites by 28), Atlanta and Detroit (blacks by 23), Miami (19), NOLA and N.Y. (18), and Portland (whites by 17).
PPP surveyed 900 American voters from April 12th to 15th. The margin of error for the survey is +/-3.3%. This poll was not paid for or authorized by any campaign or political organization. PPP surveys are conducted through automated telephone interviews.
Topline results are below. Full results, including crosstabs, can be found here.
Q1 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of New York City?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 49%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 23%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 28%
Q2 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Los Angeles?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 33%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 40%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 27%
Q3 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Chicago?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 42%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 33%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 25%
Q4 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Boston?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 52%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 17%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 32%
Q5 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Philadelphia?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 42%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 22%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 36%
Q6 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Detroit?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 22%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 49%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 29%
Q7 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Cleveland?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 32%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 25%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 42%
Q8 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Miami?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 36%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 33%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 31%
Q9 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of San Francisco?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 48%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 29%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 23%
Q10 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Seattle?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 57%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 14%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 29%
Q11 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Washington, D.C.?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 44%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 39%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 17%
Q12 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Atlanta?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 51%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 19%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 31%
Q13 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Houston?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 45%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 22%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 34%
Q14 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Dallas?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 48%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 21%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 31%
Q15 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Phoenix?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 49%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 18%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 33%
Q16 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Las Vegas?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 43%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 33%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 25%
Q17 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Salt Lake City?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 43%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 20%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 38%
Q18 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Baltimore?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 37%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 24%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 39%
Q19 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Oakland?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 21%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 39%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 40%
Q20 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of New Orleans?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 47%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 24%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 29%
Q21 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Portland, Oregon?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 52%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 12%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 37%
Q22 Who did you vote for President in 2008?
John McCain…………………………………………… 46%
Barack Obama………………………………………… 46%
Someone else/Don’t remember …………………. 8%
Q23 Would you describe yourself as very liberal,
somewhat liberal, moderate, somewhat
conservative, or very conservative?
Very liberal ……………………………………………… 12%
Somewhat liberal …………………………………….. 15%
Moderate………………………………………………… 32%
Somewhat conservative……………………………. 24%
Very conservative ……………………………………. 18%
Q24 If you are a woman, press 1. If a man, press 2.
Woman ………………………………………………….. 57%
Man……………………………………………………….. 43%
Q25 If you are a Democrat, press 1. If a Republican,
press 2. If you are an independent or identify
with another party, press 3.
Democrat ……………………………………………….. 40%
Republican……………………………………………… 37%
Independent/Other…………………………………… 24%
Q26 If you are Hispanic, press 1. If white, press 2.
If African-American, press 3. If other, press 4.
Hispanic…………………………………………………. 10%
White …………………………………………………….. 74%
African-American …………………………………….. 11%
Other……………………………………………………… 6%
Q27 If you are 18 to 29 years old, press 1. If 30 to
45, press 2. If 46 to 65, press 3. If you are
older than 65, press 4.
18 to 29………………………………………………….. 15%
30 to 45………………………………………………….. 25%
46 to 65………………………………………………….. 40%
Older than 65………………………………………….. 20%
