The slight negative change in the right track/wrong track sentiment compared to our September 2023 poll is within the margin of error. San Franciscans remain unhappy with the direction of the city.

Mayor Breed has increased her favorability compared to our September 2023 poll, increasing her strong favorables by 50% and shrinking her strong unfavorables (though both changes are within the margin of error). Ahsha Safai has seen his favorability decline, indicating his message is not resonating with voters.

The big news for the declared challengers is that Mark Farrell has emerged right out of the gate into a tie with Daniel Lurie. Farrell and Lurie are both relatively unknown to voters (after all, Farrell didn't have to run a citywide campaign when he became interim mayor), but Farrell was able to immediately catch up without spending a dime.

It's still looking like Mayor Breed is the frontrunner, but Farrell and Lurie are both in a good position to challenge her.

Steve Kerr, if you are thinking about running, please email us!

The overwhelming majority of San Francisco voters, across all ethnicities, neighborhoods, and political leanings, support funding the police and see policing as an essential government service that needs to be supported and delivered effectively. Yet some City Supervisors and politicians continue to work against the interests of the voters:

• Connie Chan called for "dismantling the police" during a 2020 District 1 debate, and in 2022 Chan joined Supervisors Preston, Ronen, and Walton in voting against allowing SFPD access to private surveillance cameras with the permission of owners.

• Dean Preston fought against funding the police, instead in 2023 he introduced a measure that would write grants to small businesses to hire private security -- outsourcing an important government function to unaccountable security contractors. He recently voted against funding police overtime in a supplemental budget adjustment.

• District 9 Supervisor candidate Jackie Fielder argued to "defund the police" in 2020 and sold campaign masks emblazoned with the phrase. She's running to replace Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who tweeted in 2020 that she has "been trying to defund SFPD [...] for years".

San Franciscans largely see police as a preventative force against crime, and they overwhelmingly support both more sworn officers and unarmed neighborhood patrols.

When San Franciscans have to interact with police, it's generally a positive experience. But SFPD clearly has some room to improve their interactions with the public.

In what may be good news for March 2024's Prop E, San Franciscans are generally supportive of police using technology to fight crime, with the exception of facial recognition technology.

This speaks to a broader trend of San Franciscans demanding not just more police, but more effective policing. San Franciscans are tired of the city's crime problem and are looking for solutions.

San Franciscans are less progressive on drug dealing than the media and some politicians would have you believe. They are not interested in letting repeat drug dealers off the hook. Combined with the results we saw in our September 2023 poll, San Franciscans want to see consequences for drug dealing, and help for those who are addicted.