A new survey released today finds that a majority of registered voters in New Orleans want Mayor LaToya Cantrell recalled.
According to that poll by Edgewater Research, 64.5 percent of the 402 registered Orleans Parish voters surveyed said they believe the city is headed in the wrong direction. Fifty-five percent of those polled said they believe Mayor Cantrell should be recalled and removed from office.
Once the results are broken down by race and party affiliation, the survey also disproves one of the mayor's talking points.
The independent poll found that 53 percent of Black voters and 53 percent of Democratic voters said they believe Mayor LaToya Cantrell should be recalled. It also found that 55 percent of Black voters and that more than two-thirds of Democratic voters--68 percent--said the city is heading in the wrong direction.
This counters the mayor's claims that the recall is a "right-wing conspiracy" to oust the city's first Black female mayor.
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"The fact that these results do transcend race and also gender, it seems to be fairly broad based in terms of people's unhappiness with the direction of the city," Dr. Ed Chervenak, the University of New Orleans political science professor who conducted the poll, said. "There's this sentiment out there that the mayor needs to be recalled."
Can the mayor reverse the sentiment against her? Dr. Chervenak suggests that she could.
"Poll numbers change all the time," Dr. Chervenak said. "We have to remember that public opinion polls are just a snapshot in time. All they do is reflect what people are thinking at that particular time. Events can change. Circumstances can change. Perceptions can change. So the numbers can be different next week of not next month.
"One of the things Mayor Cantrell is going to have to do is change perceptions of her performance in office," Dr. Chervenak added. "So maybe she responds in a way that changes those perceptions."
To view the full poll, click here.
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