Politics & Government
Poll: St. Pete Mayor, Council Approval Ratings Drop
Results from a new phone survey, which was released last week, also said approval ratings for red light cameras rebounded slightly.
Approval ratings for St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster came in at 49.1 percent in StPetePolls survey from last week. That's down from 54.3 percent in December.
According to the unscientific poll, the mayor's highest approval rating came in at 61.4 percent in May 2012.
"The Mayor and City Council both saw their approval ratings drop to their lowest levels ever in our polling," according to StPetePolls General Survey Results for February 2013.
Find out what's happening in St. Petefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
St. Petersburg City Council received an approval rating of 38.3 percent compared to 44.5 in December.
Nearly 70 percent of the 1,729 respondents said a candidate's position on the Pier will be an important factor in who they vote for.
Find out what's happening in St. Petefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
When asked, "Do you think the city should put the question of whether to demolish the inverted pyramid pier on the ballot before its planned demolition date?" 66.9 percent responded yes, 27.2 percent said no and 5.9 percent were unsure.
More than 55 percent believe the existing inverted pyramid pier building can be renovated while more than 42 percent do not believe the approach or bridge out to the Pier needs to be replaced.
Nearly 75 percent believe their taxes will be raised to pay for the new Pier.
Other survey results showed that 51.7 percent of residents thought installing red light cameras was a good thing, while 48.3 percent did not. That's up from an approval rating of 46.1 percent in December 2012, according to StPetePolls.
Residents were also asked about the stadium search proposal for the Tampa Bay Rays.
When asked, "Would you support a plan to allow the Rays baseball team to look at new stadium locations outside of the city if they paid the city's yearly costs for operating Tropicana field and are still bound by the terms of the current contract?" 57.2 percent responded yes, 36.4 percent responded no and 6.4 percent were unsure.
The telephone survey of registered voters within the City of St Petersburg was conducted on February 6, 2013.
Sign up for the free St. Pete Patch email newsletter to get more top headlines, blog posts, event listings and announcements delivered to your inbox.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
