July 21, 2025 • 38 mins
According to a new Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll of 500 Boston voters likely to participate in the September 9th preliminary election, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has a 30-point lead over challenger Josh Kraft. In addition, the polling shows Wu leading Kraft across age groups and racial demographics, as well as among Democrats, whereas Kraft is polling better with Republicans and Independents. David Paleologos, director of Suffolk University Political Research Center says all the ingredients are here to set up a big win for Mayor Wu this Fall. Pollster David Paleologos joined us to discuss.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on w b Z,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Thanks very much, Kyle. Here we go. The summer is fast. Well,
we're about the halfway mark. And in years that are
not presidential election years and are not congressional election years,
meaning years that do not end in even numbers, there's
(00:27):
a fifty to fifty chance that you'll have a mayoral
election in Boston. And that's what we have this year.
With us tonight is Dave Paleologus, extraordinary pollster at Suffolk University.
He is the director of Suffolk University the Political Research Center,
and he has released a poll for Suffolk University in
(00:52):
the Boston Globe. That the headline on the story that
is released with the Globe this morning. It's six fifteen
I AM shows Boston Mayor Michelle Wu far ahead of
rival Josh Kraft among likely voters in Boston September mayor
preliminary election. Now that election is it September ninth day?
(01:13):
If I'm not.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Mistaken, Yes, it is. Thanks for having me. It's it's
come a ninth at the right after Labor Day.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yeah, oh yeah, it's so. Is Labor Day late this
year or no? No, Labor Day is the first, isn't it? And
I think, right, yeah, yeah, so it would be the
it would be the second Tuesday. If Labor Day is first,
it's the second. It's the second Tuesday after Labor Day.
And this poll doesn't surprise you. I don't think. I'm
(01:46):
sure there is some some surprises, but the overall numbers
Michelle Wu with a nearly sixty percent lee, well, the
sixty percent support, and Josh, we'll get right to the
bottom line here. It's essentially sixty thirty is what it is.
What's your reaction to that? Is that what you kind
(02:07):
of expected?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Or no, yeah, I kind of expected it. I mean,
it's a thirty point lead, and it is only among
people who said that they were planning to vote in
the September preliminary election. We know from history that that
group of voters is a much smaller subset of who
will vote in November. But it shows that among the
(02:33):
demographics that we look at, Michelle who was a pretty
commanding lead. My takeaway is that where Josh Kraft is
winning demographics, he's winning small, and where Michelle Wu is
winning in specific demographics, she's winning big. And when you
(02:53):
add it all up, you get a thirty point margin.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Well, in a city the size of Boston, it's tough
to unseat an incumbent mayor Tom Minino. You know, Kevin
White was elected four times. Ray Flynn was elected twice
and departed to become the ambassador. Tom Manino got elected
I think it was five times, and Marty Walsh twice.
(03:19):
And we haven't had a mayoral upset, if you know,
if an upset is when an incumbent loses, I think
since nineteen forty seven or something, it's it's been it's
been quite a while. I mean, the power of the
incumbency is important, and it's strong. You have your political
machine in place. If you were Josh Craft's polster at
(03:44):
this point, would you say, hey, it's time to throw
in the towel. Do you see anything in this poll
that he could look at and say there's an opportunity
to build off of that. There's four people on the ballot,
two of whom perennial candidate Robert Pucci, who's less than
one percent, and then Domingostosa, who's a community activist in
(04:08):
Dorchester and he's a little less than three percent. What
are the what are the numbers that if you josh
Craft you can take away from a poll where you
lose in two to one.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Well, there are places where he's winning, but they are small,
smaller slices of the electorate. For example, he wins among
self described conservatives comfortably. He wins among independents by seven points.
He wins by sixty percent among Republicans, but again these
are small subsets that don't make up the majority of
(04:49):
the electorate.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
He does a little.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Bit better among men. He's in the high thirties among
older voters, for example, but she's still winning the old
voters and she's still winning men. So there are places
that could be expanded. And I think a poll like
this really resets the race in a way, and that
(05:14):
could work against Wu. I think a lot of people
look at this pole and they say, well, that's it,
that that ice is it me and Michelle who's going
to win and win in November. But the other side
of that is when a poll like this comes out,
and it's not just our poll, it's other polls showing
such a big lead that if people thought Michelle Woo
(05:37):
and Kraft were even fifty to fifty and Michelle Woo
won by twenty points, that would be a devastating blow.
But when the polling shows like this one where Michelle
Woo was winning by thirty points, then a win by
twenty or fifteen would be seen as a vulnerability. So
(05:57):
oftentimes polls like this can shape public apear and in
as well. And the artist is on the campaigns to
go out and make sure that they get their people
who are their core supporters to vote early by mail,
or to make sure that they get out to the
polls on September ninth.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Well, it's interesting from my perspective, I see a lot
of when you watch the newscasts, you see a lot
of Josh Kraft at parades and community gatherings. And he
has done a lot of work obviously in his career
(06:38):
with boys clubs and girls clubs, And I've seen a
couple of his TV spots which are pretty impressive as
somebody who has spent a lot of time helping young
people in Boston, and he's out shaken hands. Can you
impact a race in Boston? I mean it's a small
(06:59):
city physically, and it's also relatively small in terms of
the voting population. Can you have an impact on a
race from mayor because that's a citywide race. By shaking
hands with people.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Oh sure, I mean we know from the days of
Martha Copley and her not being willing to shake hands
in the cold in January, you know, cost her that election.
So the all politics as local adage rings true here.
It just hasn't resonated with those people who are likely
(07:35):
September voters. Now, all of that handshaking might be people
who will vote for Josh Kraft after September. They're not
going to care, or they're going to skip voting in September,
or maybe they're going to be away still, whatever the reason,
it's not showing up in this first benchmark, which is
(07:57):
the September preliminary election. But it could change. And so
that's why we have a preliminary election to screen out
the serious candidates and get it to a binary choice
one on one and then obviously future polling will determine
what the what the margins are coming out of the election.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
I want to talk to you more about the other candidates,
just I want to be feared to them. There they
got the sufficient number of things that you used to
get on the ballot, but clearly they they have a
huge mountain to climb to to finish second uh in
(08:41):
in September. I think it's an overwhelmingly overwhelming likelihood that
whatever happens in September will result in a rematch in November.
So I do want to mention that, but I also
want to take a very quick break here. My guest
is Dave Paleologus. If you're a Boston voter UH and
you to weigh in, we can talk about some of
(09:02):
the issues. Dave will be more than happy to in
effect take your UH, your perspective on this race. Six
one seven, two, five, four to ten thirty six one seven,
nine three one ten thirty. I am somebody who is
excited about political races, have been excited about them for
a long time, over over my lifetime, for a long time,
(09:25):
and I think it's important for people to participate. So
that's why we're doing this tonight. Feel free to join
the conversation. Coming right back on nights Side six one seven, two,
five four ten thirty or six one seven, nine three
one ten thirty Coming back right after this.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
We're talking about a Boston mayor race poll Deve Paleologus
is our guest and Dave. This is the first major
poll on the uh Michelle Wu Josh Kraft race that
I'm aware of. Have I missed one previous.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
There have been some that have come out that have
shown WU in the fifties, others have shown Craft in
the twenties. I think this pole has had the least
amount of undecided for September. Maybe people are just beginning
to focus on it a little bit, but you know,
(10:22):
this pole, I think is going to kind of set
the standard for what to expect over the next six
seven weeks.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
What are the issues that, in your opinion are the
most important issues? I mean, obviously crime is not as
important as it has been in other years. Boston has
been fairly crime free, but this quality of life issues,
you know, rats, things like that in the city, bike lanes.
(10:57):
Are there issues that the Craft has not been able
to exploit that could could help him.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
So bike lanes is definitely one of the issues. It
wasn't listed as a top issue. The top issues housing,
followed by economy and jobs, and then there was a
tie for third between schools in education with local response
to Trump initiatives because there have been some cutbacks. However,
(11:26):
the bike lane issue should be a winner for Craft,
and it is in the cross tabs. If you look
at people, a majority of people think that bike lanes
are awful, that they they are slowing things down and
making it more difficult to get around the city. You know,
(11:47):
only a small percentage of people eighteen percent think the
bike lanes are good, that they're improving mobility in the city,
and another twenty six percent or so say that it's
not having an impact on their ability to get around.
But of the people who don't like lane bike lanes,
Craft is beating WU by nine points forty seven to
(12:11):
thirty eight. But here's the problem. When you look at
people who like bike lanes, who's winning by eighty seven
points ninety to three among people who think bike lanes
are positive things. So again, it's one of those questions
where the demographics split. Sure, Craft is winning a category
(12:33):
and an issue that should be a winner for him,
but not by the margins. He needs to to close
the gap, and WU is holding onto her base among
those people who are more core advocates.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Rent control is also an issue in Boston, and obviously
rent control is not it cannot be just. It is
not a mayor's decision. It's you have to get the
green light from the legislature. Do you think most people
(13:09):
understand that? Or is it simply enough for a candidate
to say, Hey, I'm in favor of rank control, let's
cap rent prices, or do you think people don't understand that.
That's a promise you can make. But unless you're able
to get the legislature to give you the green light
on that, it's going to be an empty promise.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
I think I think you're right. I think a lot
of people aren't aware of it. But the wording of
this question kind of anticipated that. The warding of the
question is in nineteen ninety four state wide ballot measure
Our Lord Rent Control of Massachusetts. Should the City of
Boston be allowed to impose a cap on rents or
(13:51):
other forms of rank control if the mayor and city
council see fit, yes or no. So you're kind of
saying it's outlawed, But yeah, is it your opinion if
the local people in the city, the councilors, and the
mayor see fit to move forward with it, would you
(14:11):
support it? And that was overwhelmingly supported. Dan sixty five
to twenty eight. And that's a winner obviously for Michelle
Will She's talked about that a lot, and Craft has
kind of secured the other side of that issue.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
So has Craft staked out a position or has he
been ambivalent?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Well, I wouldn't pay the ambivalent, but I think he's
been warning of some of the externalities that can result
when when rent control happens. And you know, without getting
into the weeds on that, but you know, perhaps he
hasn't had a clean concise message about why that would
be a bad idea. And when you look at the
(14:51):
cross tabs on that, you know Craft is winning among
people who oppose rent control by eleven fifty one to forty.
But then you know, when you look at the majority
of people who would support rent control, who's winning by
almost fifty points sixty nine to twenty. Again, you have
that same dynamic threading through these issues like bike lanes
(15:14):
and rent control and so on. So that's the challenge.
You asked me before, what does the poster do for
the Josh Kraft? You know, you never throw in the towel, obviously,
but you've got to figure out how to expand your
base to higher higher margins, and how can you cut
into losing by seventy in this category, losing by sixty
(15:37):
in this category. You can't win a race doing that.
You've got to, you know, you've got to bring those
numbers down. And obviously the challenge for the Wool poster
is you've got to expand the places where you're winning
by landslides and trying even the score even or win
the categories that you're currently losing.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Well. I would assume that the WU campaign with a
poll like this. Now, again it's July, and this poll
was taken obviously in July. There's still August to go,
but August is generally a quiet month politically, a lot
of people are away or they're getting ready for going
back to school. You do have the advantage this year
(16:22):
of a more reasonable preliminary date, meaning September ninth. There
was one year where the preliminary election was held I
think the day after Labor Day, which to me was
absolutely crazy at the time, and I think that was
a couple of just a few years ago. So to
some extent time it's good for Craft to realize that,
(16:48):
you know, he's in the hole. He probably realizes it anyway,
it gives him a chance to retool his campaign and
maybe restart his campaign for the WU campaign. The only
downside here is they don't want to become overconfident to
go sure.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
And that's the danger of a pole like this, that
it can just all your supporters to sleep. And you know,
people all everyone is busy, and if they see a
pole like this, if you're a supporter of who, you
may say she's got it in the bag in September
and if I really need to vote, I can wait
and vote in November. And that's the danger for her.
(17:29):
And you know, as I say, for for Craft, it's
you know, is my fundraising gonna dry up? Which I
don't think will or is my is the is the
energy on my campaign gonna gonna fizzle because of a
survey like this? And I think people should understand that
(17:49):
poles are snapshot in time. There's a margin of error.
But I think it sets reasonable expectations. If you WO
you want to drive part to get in the mid
sixties and hold Craft under thirty, If your craft you
want to pull ou down into the low fifties and
get up over forty, and somewhere in between the race
(18:10):
will settle on September ninth, and then we'll have a
new fight between the ninth and September and the November election.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Now you have and you know that. I respect you
and Spencer Kimball, your colleague, and I think you're a
student at one point from Emerson College immensely. I think
to you two are the best in the business, and
we have both of you here in Boston. Do either
of these campaigns, and again, if I'm asking you a
(18:38):
question that you unwilling to answer, which would be a
surprise to me, did either of the campaigns once these
numbers were released reach out to you and say, oh,
you know that's not fair. You miss this or you
missed that. I mean, you have so so much respect.
I kind of imagine either campaign being obnoxious enough to
do that, But I have to ask the question.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Yeah, no, they don't do that directly, whether they're under
a pseudo name and they they they whacked me on
social media, which really is more often the case, or
they speak, they may speak to somebody in town, especially
in the media, off the record, and somehow it gets
back to me and they they they don't think I
(19:20):
know that, but I do know. But it's okay, but
they should call me if they have a question. I mean,
we're all about educating students, and we're all about suffix reputation,
and you know, we've had a good run, and if
they're trying, they feel they feel comfortable, they should reach out.
(19:40):
I would, you know, open the door and welcome input
from either campaign.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
All right, well now we're going to open the door
and welcome input from our listeners. Six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty six one seven, nine three one ten
thirty are the two best numbers. I got a couple
of open lines on one and one on the other.
Feel free to join conversation. We'll go to phone calls
for the balance. Again, you don't have to be in
Boston a call, but obviously love to hear from you
(20:07):
if you were a partisan of either one of the
candidates and one to ask a question of I think
one of the two best bolsters in the business. They
happen to be associated with two universities here in Boston, Well,
Emerson College. I'm not even sure if Emerson. I know
Suffolk is a university. Is Emerson taken on university status?
(20:28):
I do not believe so, So I think it's Emerson
College and Suffolk University, two great academic institutions. Join the
conversation back right after the news at the bottom of
the arts about nine thirty one, all up and down
the East coast of America. My name is Dan Ray.
This is Nightside. You're listening to WBC Boston's news radio.
And I'll also remind you one more time if I
(20:48):
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(21:11):
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play it. Of course, it's the preferable. Frankly sixty or
(21:36):
six one, seven ninety talking about the Mayor's race in Boston.
It only happens every once every four years. Back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
All right, let's go to phone calls. We're gonna go
first off to Janet in Newton. And by the way,
if you have a question for Dave Palaeologus, or if
you'd like to identify what your most important issues with
Boston voter, we can kind of pull you a little
bit right here. Janet, Welcome next with Dave Paleologus.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Hi, Dan, Hi, Dave.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
How you doing so?
Speaker 5 (22:12):
I am not a Boston voter. I'm a Newton voter.
I'll tell you right after that. But I find I'm
following this race because I find it very interesting. And
the polls just tell me. The polling data that you're
reporting tells me this is not a very interesting race
right now either or that people are not interested. We've
got low voter interests. I don't know how many people
(22:35):
are pulled and these polls are done. But here I
have a question. This in Boston is the prime preliminary
to narrow down the number of candidates, because I see
Craft has signs up to say Josh Craft, Democrat for mayor.
But it's not a it's not a primary by party.
It's just a preliminary election. Is that correct, where you're
(22:58):
narrowing leakes down to two?
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Yeah, people oftentimes call it a primary, but there are
no parties per se. I think his motivation was that
if he were painted as being a Republican or a conservative,
and the poll shows that he has Republican and conservative support,
that he can point to his declaration of party. But
(23:25):
it is not the same winnowing process as New York City,
which is a party primary.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
So it's a preliminary race. So that was my first question.
And the other question I have is, I don't people
aware of what's going on in Boston? I mean, I mean,
it's just amazing to me when I see this kind
of a these kind of polls. You know, don't they
see I mean, the driving is so bad, and you know,
(23:55):
the drug addiction issue is a big issue. I know
that I've heard crafted talking about that too, And I
just don't understand why voters aren't aware of what's going
on and aren't taking these take issues. It's a I
don't get it.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
It's a great point. And what I would say is
to the listeners here is oftentimes people could tastrify their
most important issues to mean that a race is going
to hang on that issue, Meaning people who are really
upset at bike lanes will take the opinion that their
(24:38):
bike lanes are so bad, who should be turned out
of office? Or the drug problem is so bad, that's
my issue. What the poll tells us is there's a
vulnerability for WU on those issues, but it's not enough
to overcome all of the other issues. Probably no crime
(24:59):
going down. Point at least forrime going down, people you know, affordability,
people supporting rank control, and all the demographics that we
include in the poll which are representative of the of
the preliminary. I would agree with you that a lot
of people in Boston are not aware of what's going on.
And that's one of the reasons we put a really
(25:20):
tight screen on this poll, meaning they not only had
to be a registered voter and a likely voter self described,
they also had to tell us when the preliminary was
not the exact day, because very few people would guess
September ninth. I think only fourteen percent guessed the exact day,
but they would have had to have said after Labor
(25:41):
day month of September, you know, a couple months before November,
the general timeframe to know that this election in September
was taking place, and anybody who couldn't answer that third
screen question we did not include in the survey. Now
we could, we could have screened out people who would
(26:03):
vote for a WUA, would vote for Craft who couldn't
answer that question, But for us, we really wanted to
target just likely September preliminary voters. And that's kind of
the construct of the sample frame.
Speaker 5 (26:17):
So one more question and then I'll let you go
into the next scholar, and that is what is the
turnout of the voters in Boston typically in the primary
and the case when there's somebody challenging the incumbent.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
You know, I think the first benchmark we would look
at as one hundred thousand, and the question is is
it going to be one thirty or is it going
to be you know, eighty three, And that's going to
depend on a couple of things.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
What do those numbers mean one one thirty or eighty three?
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Is it for one hundred thousand votes casts in September?
You know, it's I think last time it was one
ten or one twenty something like that. But you have
to sort of engineer where the votes are coming from.
For example, I looked at the different council races in Boston,
and there's only one council race that has five or
(27:09):
more bonafide council candidates. It's District seven. And that district
is going to have a much higher turnout because there
are nine candidates running for city council, which means that
every one of those candidates are going to pull out
their neighbors and friends to vote for them and increase
(27:29):
the turnout District seven. District seven, by the way, for
your listeners, is Roxbury, Dorchester, Fenway and part of the
South End. So that district this time, which is separate
from last time, is going to have a disproportionately high
turnout because of the council race and those nine candidates
(27:50):
driving turnout. And you have other races, council races in
other districts, but there aren't that many. They might two
or three, and maybe there's a fourth perennial candidate that
always runs, and they're not going to draw heavy voter pull.
A poll pull, not PLL in terms of pulling people
(28:14):
out to the polls on election day.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
All right, Hope, that helps Janet, Thank you for your calls,
thank you for your questions, thank you, thank you. Six
one seven thirty six one seven nine three thirty. My
guest is Dave Paleologus. Again, it's important to emphasize that
the election of a mayor in the city only takes
place once every four years unless a mayor resigns or
(28:42):
the case passes away. But it's a it's a quadrennial
event and it's important. At the same time, Boston is
not a city the size of New York. New York
has I think it's sixteen million people or something like that.
We have about a million people, and that's that's that's realistically,
(29:05):
you're talking about probably residents of about eight hundred thousand.
So it's important to understand that this election is is
very important and people who are invested, whether they are
people who are bicyclists or whether they are people who
are opposed to the to the proliferation of bike lanes,
(29:29):
that's what drives people out. And unfortunately, I think it's
more important sometimes to have who your mayor is or
who your member of Congress is than who the President
of the United States is in terms of what impact
that has on you directly, so we're going to try
to get some some interest in the race. We'll be
back on night Side with a more phone call six
(29:49):
one seven two thirty or six one seven, nine three
one ten thirty. Sandra in Boston will be on next
caller on the other side, coming back right after this break.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Side with Dan Ray on w Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Back to the phones, Let's go to Sandra in Boston. Hi, Sandra,
welcome next on Nightside.
Speaker 6 (30:11):
Hi, Dan, him, mister Pelly Elvis. I'm I read somewhere
that the city Council was uh considering a considering filing
a home rule petition to allow non citizens to vote.
And I don't know what the status of that is
(30:32):
or whether.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I've you know, I don't know where you read that, Sandra,
but I've not heard anything like that, and I would
be stunned if that was true, unost Harold.
Speaker 6 (30:46):
Yeah, and if I'm glad if you haven't heard anything.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Yeah. No, And I don't think a home rule petition
like that would have a chance even with our legislature
on Bacon Hill, because I know Dave you your thought
on that.
Speaker 6 (31:01):
Two other questions, well, let's.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
See let's get Day's quick reaction go ahead.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Yeah, so I haven't heard it as well. There there
might be people who are floating the idea and maybe
it got picked up by a Harold reporter that might
have that might have happened, and so they may just
be reporting on what they've heard or what the intentions
of a specific legislator.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
It's certainly not going to get passed between now in September,
So don't worry. Don't worry about that. What's your second question.
Speaker 6 (31:31):
Sandra, I I was only recently made aware that twenty
eight million dollars of our tax money has been dedicated
through a kind of DEI program to create and expand
lead shops in the Boston area to.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Create what what type of shops you said.
Speaker 6 (31:52):
Pot shops, pot shops, weed shops. Okay, And it was
sort of shocked when I saw the figure. Yeah, I'm wondering.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
I've never heard of that either. I don't know what
what you're reading.
Speaker 5 (32:05):
About street journal really.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Well, okay, I don't know why there's a lot of
people who are looking at to open up weed shops.
Speaker 6 (32:17):
Well, it's one thing to open them up, it's another
thing to have the taxpayers absolutely.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
That's had you ever heard this day.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Or no, No, I haven't, But you know I mean that.
You know, as information like this comes forward, not only us,
but other posters will watch the cycle and what the
what the proof is, and we'll probably incorporate that into
future questions if it's if it's true material.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
That's a big if it's true. I mean, my understanding
is that marijuana shops are regulated by the state marijuana Commission.
There's no such thing as as a Boston marijuana Commission.
So again, Santa, the journal I guess could be wrong
as well. If Dave and I neither Dave nor I
have heard of it, I wouldn't spend under.
Speaker 6 (33:08):
The rubric of DEI. In other words, these people would
get the money to open weed shop.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Yeah. Well, you know, maybe if someone has some information
out there and they want to forward it to me,
that's great. But I got a couple of other callers
I'd like to get to as well. I appreciate you
at asking those questions, and it sounds to me like
you're not happy with.
Speaker 6 (33:33):
Can I ask one more?
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Got to be quick, please be quick.
Speaker 6 (33:37):
I just want to know if he's getting any feedback
about the lack of primary care physicians in Boston. There
are a lot of people on a waiting list of
primary care position.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Not an issue in the mayor's race.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
David, Yeah, I would agree with that. And they always
have the option when we give them a battery of
responses on an issues question to follow in tier, and
we haven't. We didn't have one responding Bow and Tier
specifically that issue.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
And that's how many voters you you you talked with
you twelve? Yeah? Yeah, okay, gotcha to Sandra. Thank you
very much, appreciate your call. Uh, let me go quickly
here to a many in Boston. Manny, you gotta be quick.
I got one more call I'd like to get to
as well.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Go ahead, man, Hi, Dan, how are you good?
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Sir?
Speaker 3 (34:25):
So real quick?
Speaker 4 (34:28):
Dave mentioned in nine candidates running in District seven. Yeah,
there's quality of life and issue there because I drive
by mass and casts today. I see a guy handing
a bag to a woman. I see a guy overrun
by the fire headquarters shooting up and the police are
right there.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
I mean, well, massive cast has never been solved, and
I think that it certainly will be an issue in
the South End. I don't know Dave, did you find
that much of an issue in your In your.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Poll, we asked city why the quality of life question?
And to the callless point, it was pretty mixed. It
was only like thirty one percent said better over the
last year, thirty one percent worse, and the balance saying
the same. The problem for Craft is among the people
(35:19):
who say their quality of life is worse, he's winning
by eighteen points, which is pretty good. But among people
who say their quality of life is better, she's winning
by sixty points, seventy seven to seventeen. So again you
have that same dynamic where he is strong in some
demographic areas, but he's not winning by the kinds of
(35:39):
margins that he needs to to offset where was winning.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
The other thing? Bearon, Bear in mind many that you
drive by mass and cast. People who live in West Roxbury,
live in Hyde Park, live in Brighton. They don't care
about mass and cast because it's not in their backyard.
Simple as that. I got to get one more in. Okay, Okay,
thank you appreciate Jack and Newton. Jack, I'm so why
you called the the lake. You got to quick for me?
Speaker 7 (36:02):
Oh yes, Jack, Porter, I'm a sociologist and what's the
relationship or the comparison between Zephyr Mandani, Uh, you know,
possibly doing an upset in New.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
York and Craft.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Uh, very little, very little. They're they're very very different backgrounds.
Go ahead, gotta be quick, David for for.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
US, Yes, So the difference is that Mandami would never
pull well among conservatives, self described independence and Republicans, and
that seems in this poll to be the base for Craft.
So if your Craft, you want people middle of the
middle of the road and right of center to come
out and droves in September. And if you're WU, you
want anybody that's center left to come out in September.
(36:47):
Those are the lines drawn. Mandami's more aligned with WU
in terms of political philosophy liberal, moderate, conservative.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
And I think a lot of conservatives that the the
the old you know, Dapper O'Neil votes in Boston have
long have long since disappeared in my opinion, Jack, Thanks,
that was a great question, and we'll talk about the
Mandami race some night as well. That's an interesting race
that made me draw more attention in Boston than the
Boston race. Thanks Jack, Dave Paley Logus has always thank you,
(37:18):
my friend. Great table setter for an election. That Craft
better get on his horse especially, is what I take
from these numbers. And he doesn't seem to do much
in the media. He seems to be media averse, so
I think that's tough to take out an a company
if you're media reverse. Thanks thank you so much, David.
(37:39):
We'll talk soon, my pleasure.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Dan.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Thanks, thank you very much. Will you come back when
we talk about the cold Play couple. I think everyone
knows the story. We have a writer who has taken
a pretty interesting and a different take on the story.
And this is what I want to talk about because
I think it says a lot about who we are
as a country and who we are as a people.
Back on Nights Side after this
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on w b Z,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Thanks very much, Kyle. Here we go. The summer is fast. Well,
we're about the halfway mark. And in years that are
not presidential election years and are not congressional election years,
meaning years that do not end in even numbers, there's
(00:27):
a fifty to fifty chance that you'll have a mayoral
election in Boston. And that's what we have this year.
With us tonight is Dave Paleologus, extraordinary pollster at Suffolk University.
He is the director of Suffolk University the Political Research Center,
and he has released a poll for Suffolk University in
(00:52):
the Boston Globe. That the headline on the story that
is released with the Globe this morning. It's six fifteen
I AM shows Boston Mayor Michelle Wu far ahead of
rival Josh Kraft among likely voters in Boston September mayor
preliminary election. Now that election is it September ninth day?
(01:13):
If I'm not.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Mistaken, Yes, it is. Thanks for having me. It's it's
come a ninth at the right after Labor Day.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yeah, oh yeah, it's so. Is Labor Day late this
year or no? No, Labor Day is the first, isn't it? And
I think, right, yeah, yeah, so it would be the
it would be the second Tuesday. If Labor Day is first,
it's the second. It's the second Tuesday after Labor Day.
And this poll doesn't surprise you. I don't think. I'm
(01:46):
sure there is some some surprises, but the overall numbers
Michelle Wu with a nearly sixty percent lee, well, the
sixty percent support, and Josh, we'll get right to the
bottom line here. It's essentially sixty thirty is what it is.
What's your reaction to that? Is that what you kind
(02:07):
of expected?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Or no, yeah, I kind of expected it. I mean,
it's a thirty point lead, and it is only among
people who said that they were planning to vote in
the September preliminary election. We know from history that that
group of voters is a much smaller subset of who
will vote in November. But it shows that among the
(02:33):
demographics that we look at, Michelle who was a pretty
commanding lead. My takeaway is that where Josh Kraft is
winning demographics, he's winning small, and where Michelle Wu is
winning in specific demographics, she's winning big. And when you
(02:53):
add it all up, you get a thirty point margin.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Well, in a city the size of Boston, it's tough
to unseat an incumbent mayor Tom Minino. You know, Kevin
White was elected four times. Ray Flynn was elected twice
and departed to become the ambassador. Tom Manino got elected
I think it was five times, and Marty Walsh twice.
(03:19):
And we haven't had a mayoral upset, if you know,
if an upset is when an incumbent loses, I think
since nineteen forty seven or something, it's it's been it's
been quite a while. I mean, the power of the
incumbency is important, and it's strong. You have your political
machine in place. If you were Josh Craft's polster at
(03:44):
this point, would you say, hey, it's time to throw
in the towel. Do you see anything in this poll
that he could look at and say there's an opportunity
to build off of that. There's four people on the ballot,
two of whom perennial candidate Robert Pucci, who's less than
one percent, and then Domingostosa, who's a community activist in
(04:08):
Dorchester and he's a little less than three percent. What
are the what are the numbers that if you josh
Craft you can take away from a poll where you
lose in two to one.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Well, there are places where he's winning, but they are small,
smaller slices of the electorate. For example, he wins among
self described conservatives comfortably. He wins among independents by seven points.
He wins by sixty percent among Republicans, but again these
are small subsets that don't make up the majority of
(04:49):
the electorate.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
He does a little.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Bit better among men. He's in the high thirties among
older voters, for example, but she's still winning the old
voters and she's still winning men. So there are places
that could be expanded. And I think a poll like
this really resets the race in a way, and that
(05:14):
could work against Wu. I think a lot of people
look at this pole and they say, well, that's it,
that that ice is it me and Michelle who's going
to win and win in November. But the other side
of that is when a poll like this comes out,
and it's not just our poll, it's other polls showing
such a big lead that if people thought Michelle Woo
(05:37):
and Kraft were even fifty to fifty and Michelle Woo
won by twenty points, that would be a devastating blow.
But when the polling shows like this one where Michelle
Woo was winning by thirty points, then a win by
twenty or fifteen would be seen as a vulnerability. So
(05:57):
oftentimes polls like this can shape public apear and in
as well. And the artist is on the campaigns to
go out and make sure that they get their people
who are their core supporters to vote early by mail,
or to make sure that they get out to the
polls on September ninth.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Well, it's interesting from my perspective, I see a lot
of when you watch the newscasts, you see a lot
of Josh Kraft at parades and community gatherings. And he
has done a lot of work obviously in his career
(06:38):
with boys clubs and girls clubs, And I've seen a
couple of his TV spots which are pretty impressive as
somebody who has spent a lot of time helping young
people in Boston, and he's out shaken hands. Can you
impact a race in Boston? I mean it's a small
(06:59):
city physically, and it's also relatively small in terms of
the voting population. Can you have an impact on a
race from mayor because that's a citywide race. By shaking
hands with people.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Oh sure, I mean we know from the days of
Martha Copley and her not being willing to shake hands
in the cold in January, you know, cost her that election.
So the all politics as local adage rings true here.
It just hasn't resonated with those people who are likely
(07:35):
September voters. Now, all of that handshaking might be people
who will vote for Josh Kraft after September. They're not
going to care, or they're going to skip voting in September,
or maybe they're going to be away still, whatever the reason,
it's not showing up in this first benchmark, which is
(07:57):
the September preliminary election. But it could change. And so
that's why we have a preliminary election to screen out
the serious candidates and get it to a binary choice
one on one and then obviously future polling will determine
what the what the margins are coming out of the election.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
I want to talk to you more about the other candidates,
just I want to be feared to them. There they
got the sufficient number of things that you used to
get on the ballot, but clearly they they have a
huge mountain to climb to to finish second uh in
(08:41):
in September. I think it's an overwhelmingly overwhelming likelihood that
whatever happens in September will result in a rematch in November.
So I do want to mention that, but I also
want to take a very quick break here. My guest
is Dave Paleologus. If you're a Boston voter UH and
you to weigh in, we can talk about some of
(09:02):
the issues. Dave will be more than happy to in
effect take your UH, your perspective on this race. Six
one seven, two, five, four to ten thirty six one seven,
nine three one ten thirty. I am somebody who is
excited about political races, have been excited about them for
a long time, over over my lifetime, for a long time,
(09:25):
and I think it's important for people to participate. So
that's why we're doing this tonight. Feel free to join
the conversation. Coming right back on nights Side six one seven, two,
five four ten thirty or six one seven, nine three
one ten thirty Coming back right after this.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
We're talking about a Boston mayor race poll Deve Paleologus
is our guest and Dave. This is the first major
poll on the uh Michelle Wu Josh Kraft race that
I'm aware of. Have I missed one previous.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
There have been some that have come out that have
shown WU in the fifties, others have shown Craft in
the twenties. I think this pole has had the least
amount of undecided for September. Maybe people are just beginning
to focus on it a little bit, but you know,
(10:22):
this pole, I think is going to kind of set
the standard for what to expect over the next six
seven weeks.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
What are the issues that, in your opinion are the
most important issues? I mean, obviously crime is not as
important as it has been in other years. Boston has
been fairly crime free, but this quality of life issues,
you know, rats, things like that in the city, bike lanes.
(10:57):
Are there issues that the Craft has not been able
to exploit that could could help him.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
So bike lanes is definitely one of the issues. It
wasn't listed as a top issue. The top issues housing,
followed by economy and jobs, and then there was a
tie for third between schools in education with local response
to Trump initiatives because there have been some cutbacks. However,
(11:26):
the bike lane issue should be a winner for Craft,
and it is in the cross tabs. If you look
at people, a majority of people think that bike lanes
are awful, that they they are slowing things down and
making it more difficult to get around the city. You know,
(11:47):
only a small percentage of people eighteen percent think the
bike lanes are good, that they're improving mobility in the city,
and another twenty six percent or so say that it's
not having an impact on their ability to get around.
But of the people who don't like lane bike lanes,
Craft is beating WU by nine points forty seven to
(12:11):
thirty eight. But here's the problem. When you look at
people who like bike lanes, who's winning by eighty seven
points ninety to three among people who think bike lanes
are positive things. So again, it's one of those questions
where the demographics split. Sure, Craft is winning a category
(12:33):
and an issue that should be a winner for him,
but not by the margins. He needs to to close
the gap, and WU is holding onto her base among
those people who are more core advocates.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Rent control is also an issue in Boston, and obviously
rent control is not it cannot be just. It is
not a mayor's decision. It's you have to get the
green light from the legislature. Do you think most people
(13:09):
understand that? Or is it simply enough for a candidate
to say, Hey, I'm in favor of rank control, let's
cap rent prices, or do you think people don't understand that.
That's a promise you can make. But unless you're able
to get the legislature to give you the green light
on that, it's going to be an empty promise.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
I think I think you're right. I think a lot
of people aren't aware of it. But the wording of
this question kind of anticipated that. The warding of the
question is in nineteen ninety four state wide ballot measure
Our Lord Rent Control of Massachusetts. Should the City of
Boston be allowed to impose a cap on rents or
(13:51):
other forms of rank control if the mayor and city
council see fit, yes or no. So you're kind of
saying it's outlawed, But yeah, is it your opinion if
the local people in the city, the councilors, and the
mayor see fit to move forward with it, would you
(14:11):
support it? And that was overwhelmingly supported. Dan sixty five
to twenty eight. And that's a winner obviously for Michelle
Will She's talked about that a lot, and Craft has
kind of secured the other side of that issue.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
So has Craft staked out a position or has he
been ambivalent?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Well, I wouldn't pay the ambivalent, but I think he's
been warning of some of the externalities that can result
when when rent control happens. And you know, without getting
into the weeds on that, but you know, perhaps he
hasn't had a clean concise message about why that would
be a bad idea. And when you look at the
(14:51):
cross tabs on that, you know Craft is winning among
people who oppose rent control by eleven fifty one to forty.
But then you know, when you look at the majority
of people who would support rent control, who's winning by
almost fifty points sixty nine to twenty. Again, you have
that same dynamic threading through these issues like bike lanes
(15:14):
and rent control and so on. So that's the challenge.
You asked me before, what does the poster do for
the Josh Kraft? You know, you never throw in the towel, obviously,
but you've got to figure out how to expand your
base to higher higher margins, and how can you cut
into losing by seventy in this category, losing by sixty
(15:37):
in this category. You can't win a race doing that.
You've got to, you know, you've got to bring those
numbers down. And obviously the challenge for the Wool poster
is you've got to expand the places where you're winning
by landslides and trying even the score even or win
the categories that you're currently losing.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Well. I would assume that the WU campaign with a
poll like this. Now, again it's July, and this poll
was taken obviously in July. There's still August to go,
but August is generally a quiet month politically, a lot
of people are away or they're getting ready for going
back to school. You do have the advantage this year
(16:22):
of a more reasonable preliminary date, meaning September ninth. There
was one year where the preliminary election was held I
think the day after Labor Day, which to me was
absolutely crazy at the time, and I think that was
a couple of just a few years ago. So to
some extent time it's good for Craft to realize that,
(16:48):
you know, he's in the hole. He probably realizes it anyway,
it gives him a chance to retool his campaign and
maybe restart his campaign for the WU campaign. The only
downside here is they don't want to become overconfident to
go sure.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
And that's the danger of a pole like this, that
it can just all your supporters to sleep. And you know,
people all everyone is busy, and if they see a
pole like this, if you're a supporter of who, you
may say she's got it in the bag in September
and if I really need to vote, I can wait
and vote in November. And that's the danger for her.
(17:29):
And you know, as I say, for for Craft, it's
you know, is my fundraising gonna dry up? Which I
don't think will or is my is the is the
energy on my campaign gonna gonna fizzle because of a
survey like this? And I think people should understand that
(17:49):
poles are snapshot in time. There's a margin of error.
But I think it sets reasonable expectations. If you WO
you want to drive part to get in the mid
sixties and hold Craft under thirty, If your craft you
want to pull ou down into the low fifties and
get up over forty, and somewhere in between the race
(18:10):
will settle on September ninth, and then we'll have a
new fight between the ninth and September and the November election.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Now you have and you know that. I respect you
and Spencer Kimball, your colleague, and I think you're a
student at one point from Emerson College immensely. I think
to you two are the best in the business, and
we have both of you here in Boston. Do either
of these campaigns, and again, if I'm asking you a
(18:38):
question that you unwilling to answer, which would be a
surprise to me, did either of the campaigns once these
numbers were released reach out to you and say, oh,
you know that's not fair. You miss this or you
missed that. I mean, you have so so much respect.
I kind of imagine either campaign being obnoxious enough to
do that, But I have to ask the question.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Yeah, no, they don't do that directly, whether they're under
a pseudo name and they they they whacked me on
social media, which really is more often the case, or
they speak, they may speak to somebody in town, especially
in the media, off the record, and somehow it gets
back to me and they they they don't think I
(19:20):
know that, but I do know. But it's okay, but
they should call me if they have a question. I mean,
we're all about educating students, and we're all about suffix reputation,
and you know, we've had a good run, and if
they're trying, they feel they feel comfortable, they should reach out.
(19:40):
I would, you know, open the door and welcome input
from either campaign.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
All right, well now we're going to open the door
and welcome input from our listeners. Six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty six one seven, nine three one ten
thirty are the two best numbers. I got a couple
of open lines on one and one on the other.
Feel free to join conversation. We'll go to phone calls
for the balance. Again, you don't have to be in
Boston a call, but obviously love to hear from you
(20:07):
if you were a partisan of either one of the
candidates and one to ask a question of I think
one of the two best bolsters in the business. They
happen to be associated with two universities here in Boston, Well,
Emerson College. I'm not even sure if Emerson. I know
Suffolk is a university. Is Emerson taken on university status?
(20:28):
I do not believe so, So I think it's Emerson
College and Suffolk University, two great academic institutions. Join the
conversation back right after the news at the bottom of
the arts about nine thirty one, all up and down
the East coast of America. My name is Dan Ray.
This is Nightside. You're listening to WBC Boston's news radio.
And I'll also remind you one more time if I
(20:48):
have it already, do do pull down the new and
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(21:11):
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play it. Of course, it's the preferable. Frankly sixty or
(21:36):
six one, seven ninety talking about the Mayor's race in Boston.
It only happens every once every four years. Back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
All right, let's go to phone calls. We're gonna go
first off to Janet in Newton. And by the way,
if you have a question for Dave Palaeologus, or if
you'd like to identify what your most important issues with
Boston voter, we can kind of pull you a little
bit right here. Janet, Welcome next with Dave Paleologus.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Hi, Dan, Hi, Dave.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
How you doing so?
Speaker 5 (22:12):
I am not a Boston voter. I'm a Newton voter.
I'll tell you right after that. But I find I'm
following this race because I find it very interesting. And
the polls just tell me. The polling data that you're
reporting tells me this is not a very interesting race
right now either or that people are not interested. We've
got low voter interests. I don't know how many people
(22:35):
are pulled and these polls are done. But here I
have a question. This in Boston is the prime preliminary
to narrow down the number of candidates, because I see
Craft has signs up to say Josh Craft, Democrat for mayor.
But it's not a it's not a primary by party.
It's just a preliminary election. Is that correct, where you're
(22:58):
narrowing leakes down to two?
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Yeah, people oftentimes call it a primary, but there are
no parties per se. I think his motivation was that
if he were painted as being a Republican or a conservative,
and the poll shows that he has Republican and conservative support,
that he can point to his declaration of party. But
(23:25):
it is not the same winnowing process as New York City,
which is a party primary.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
So it's a preliminary race. So that was my first question.
And the other question I have is, I don't people
aware of what's going on in Boston? I mean, I mean,
it's just amazing to me when I see this kind
of a these kind of polls. You know, don't they
see I mean, the driving is so bad, and you know,
(23:55):
the drug addiction issue is a big issue. I know
that I've heard crafted talking about that too, And I
just don't understand why voters aren't aware of what's going
on and aren't taking these take issues. It's a I
don't get it.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
It's a great point. And what I would say is
to the listeners here is oftentimes people could tastrify their
most important issues to mean that a race is going
to hang on that issue, Meaning people who are really
upset at bike lanes will take the opinion that their
(24:38):
bike lanes are so bad, who should be turned out
of office? Or the drug problem is so bad, that's
my issue. What the poll tells us is there's a
vulnerability for WU on those issues, but it's not enough
to overcome all of the other issues. Probably no crime
(24:59):
going down. Point at least forrime going down, people you know, affordability,
people supporting rank control, and all the demographics that we
include in the poll which are representative of the of
the preliminary. I would agree with you that a lot
of people in Boston are not aware of what's going on.
And that's one of the reasons we put a really
(25:20):
tight screen on this poll, meaning they not only had
to be a registered voter and a likely voter self described,
they also had to tell us when the preliminary was
not the exact day, because very few people would guess
September ninth. I think only fourteen percent guessed the exact day,
but they would have had to have said after Labor
(25:41):
day month of September, you know, a couple months before November,
the general timeframe to know that this election in September
was taking place, and anybody who couldn't answer that third
screen question we did not include in the survey. Now
we could, we could have screened out people who would
(26:03):
vote for a WUA, would vote for Craft who couldn't
answer that question, But for us, we really wanted to
target just likely September preliminary voters. And that's kind of
the construct of the sample frame.
Speaker 5 (26:17):
So one more question and then I'll let you go
into the next scholar, and that is what is the
turnout of the voters in Boston typically in the primary
and the case when there's somebody challenging the incumbent.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
You know, I think the first benchmark we would look
at as one hundred thousand, and the question is is
it going to be one thirty or is it going
to be you know, eighty three, And that's going to
depend on a couple of things.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
What do those numbers mean one one thirty or eighty three?
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Is it for one hundred thousand votes casts in September?
You know, it's I think last time it was one
ten or one twenty something like that. But you have
to sort of engineer where the votes are coming from.
For example, I looked at the different council races in Boston,
and there's only one council race that has five or
(27:09):
more bonafide council candidates. It's District seven. And that district
is going to have a much higher turnout because there
are nine candidates running for city council, which means that
every one of those candidates are going to pull out
their neighbors and friends to vote for them and increase
(27:29):
the turnout District seven. District seven, by the way, for
your listeners, is Roxbury, Dorchester, Fenway and part of the
South End. So that district this time, which is separate
from last time, is going to have a disproportionately high
turnout because of the council race and those nine candidates
(27:50):
driving turnout. And you have other races, council races in
other districts, but there aren't that many. They might two
or three, and maybe there's a fourth perennial candidate that
always runs, and they're not going to draw heavy voter pull.
A poll pull, not PLL in terms of pulling people
(28:14):
out to the polls on election day.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
All right, Hope, that helps Janet, Thank you for your calls,
thank you for your questions, thank you, thank you. Six
one seven thirty six one seven nine three thirty. My
guest is Dave Paleologus. Again, it's important to emphasize that
the election of a mayor in the city only takes
place once every four years unless a mayor resigns or
(28:42):
the case passes away. But it's a it's a quadrennial
event and it's important. At the same time, Boston is
not a city the size of New York. New York
has I think it's sixteen million people or something like that.
We have about a million people, and that's that's that's realistically,
(29:05):
you're talking about probably residents of about eight hundred thousand.
So it's important to understand that this election is is
very important and people who are invested, whether they are
people who are bicyclists or whether they are people who
are opposed to the to the proliferation of bike lanes,
(29:29):
that's what drives people out. And unfortunately, I think it's
more important sometimes to have who your mayor is or
who your member of Congress is than who the President
of the United States is in terms of what impact
that has on you directly, so we're going to try
to get some some interest in the race. We'll be
back on night Side with a more phone call six
(29:49):
one seven two thirty or six one seven, nine three
one ten thirty. Sandra in Boston will be on next
caller on the other side, coming back right after this break.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Side with Dan Ray on w Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Back to the phones, Let's go to Sandra in Boston. Hi, Sandra,
welcome next on Nightside.
Speaker 6 (30:11):
Hi, Dan, him, mister Pelly Elvis. I'm I read somewhere
that the city Council was uh considering a considering filing
a home rule petition to allow non citizens to vote.
And I don't know what the status of that is
(30:32):
or whether.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I've you know, I don't know where you read that, Sandra,
but I've not heard anything like that, and I would
be stunned if that was true, unost Harold.
Speaker 6 (30:46):
Yeah, and if I'm glad if you haven't heard anything.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Yeah. No, And I don't think a home rule petition
like that would have a chance even with our legislature
on Bacon Hill, because I know Dave you your thought
on that.
Speaker 6 (31:01):
Two other questions, well, let's.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
See let's get Day's quick reaction go ahead.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Yeah, so I haven't heard it as well. There there
might be people who are floating the idea and maybe
it got picked up by a Harold reporter that might
have that might have happened, and so they may just
be reporting on what they've heard or what the intentions
of a specific legislator.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
It's certainly not going to get passed between now in September,
So don't worry. Don't worry about that. What's your second question.
Speaker 6 (31:31):
Sandra, I I was only recently made aware that twenty
eight million dollars of our tax money has been dedicated
through a kind of DEI program to create and expand
lead shops in the Boston area to.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Create what what type of shops you said.
Speaker 6 (31:52):
Pot shops, pot shops, weed shops. Okay, And it was
sort of shocked when I saw the figure. Yeah, I'm wondering.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
I've never heard of that either. I don't know what
what you're reading.
Speaker 5 (32:05):
About street journal really.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Well, okay, I don't know why there's a lot of
people who are looking at to open up weed shops.
Speaker 6 (32:17):
Well, it's one thing to open them up, it's another
thing to have the taxpayers absolutely.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
That's had you ever heard this day.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Or no, No, I haven't, But you know I mean that.
You know, as information like this comes forward, not only us,
but other posters will watch the cycle and what the
what the proof is, and we'll probably incorporate that into
future questions if it's if it's true material.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
That's a big if it's true. I mean, my understanding
is that marijuana shops are regulated by the state marijuana Commission.
There's no such thing as as a Boston marijuana Commission.
So again, Santa, the journal I guess could be wrong
as well. If Dave and I neither Dave nor I
have heard of it, I wouldn't spend under.
Speaker 6 (33:08):
The rubric of DEI. In other words, these people would
get the money to open weed shop.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Yeah. Well, you know, maybe if someone has some information
out there and they want to forward it to me,
that's great. But I got a couple of other callers
I'd like to get to as well. I appreciate you
at asking those questions, and it sounds to me like
you're not happy with.
Speaker 6 (33:33):
Can I ask one more?
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Got to be quick, please be quick.
Speaker 6 (33:37):
I just want to know if he's getting any feedback
about the lack of primary care physicians in Boston. There
are a lot of people on a waiting list of
primary care position.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Not an issue in the mayor's race.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
David, Yeah, I would agree with that. And they always
have the option when we give them a battery of
responses on an issues question to follow in tier, and
we haven't. We didn't have one responding Bow and Tier
specifically that issue.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
And that's how many voters you you you talked with
you twelve? Yeah? Yeah, okay, gotcha to Sandra. Thank you
very much, appreciate your call. Uh, let me go quickly
here to a many in Boston. Manny, you gotta be quick.
I got one more call I'd like to get to
as well.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Go ahead, man, Hi, Dan, how are you good?
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Sir?
Speaker 3 (34:25):
So real quick?
Speaker 4 (34:28):
Dave mentioned in nine candidates running in District seven. Yeah,
there's quality of life and issue there because I drive
by mass and casts today. I see a guy handing
a bag to a woman. I see a guy overrun
by the fire headquarters shooting up and the police are
right there.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
I mean, well, massive cast has never been solved, and
I think that it certainly will be an issue in
the South End. I don't know Dave, did you find
that much of an issue in your In your.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Poll, we asked city why the quality of life question?
And to the callless point, it was pretty mixed. It
was only like thirty one percent said better over the
last year, thirty one percent worse, and the balance saying
the same. The problem for Craft is among the people
(35:19):
who say their quality of life is worse, he's winning
by eighteen points, which is pretty good. But among people
who say their quality of life is better, she's winning
by sixty points, seventy seven to seventeen. So again you
have that same dynamic where he is strong in some
demographic areas, but he's not winning by the kinds of
(35:39):
margins that he needs to to offset where was winning.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
The other thing? Bearon, Bear in mind many that you
drive by mass and cast. People who live in West Roxbury,
live in Hyde Park, live in Brighton. They don't care
about mass and cast because it's not in their backyard.
Simple as that. I got to get one more in. Okay, Okay,
thank you appreciate Jack and Newton. Jack, I'm so why
you called the the lake. You got to quick for me?
Speaker 7 (36:02):
Oh yes, Jack, Porter, I'm a sociologist and what's the
relationship or the comparison between Zephyr Mandani, Uh, you know,
possibly doing an upset in New.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
York and Craft.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Uh, very little, very little. They're they're very very different backgrounds.
Go ahead, gotta be quick, David for for.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
US, Yes, So the difference is that Mandami would never
pull well among conservatives, self described independence and Republicans, and
that seems in this poll to be the base for Craft.
So if your Craft, you want people middle of the
middle of the road and right of center to come
out and droves in September. And if you're WU, you
want anybody that's center left to come out in September.
(36:47):
Those are the lines drawn. Mandami's more aligned with WU
in terms of political philosophy liberal, moderate, conservative.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
And I think a lot of conservatives that the the
the old you know, Dapper O'Neil votes in Boston have
long have long since disappeared in my opinion, Jack, Thanks,
that was a great question, and we'll talk about the
Mandami race some night as well. That's an interesting race
that made me draw more attention in Boston than the
Boston race. Thanks Jack, Dave Paley Logus has always thank you,
(37:18):
my friend. Great table setter for an election. That Craft
better get on his horse especially, is what I take
from these numbers. And he doesn't seem to do much
in the media. He seems to be media averse, so
I think that's tough to take out an a company
if you're media reverse. Thanks thank you so much, David.
(37:39):
We'll talk soon, my pleasure.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Dan.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Thanks, thank you very much. Will you come back when
we talk about the cold Play couple. I think everyone
knows the story. We have a writer who has taken
a pretty interesting and a different take on the story.
And this is what I want to talk about because
I think it says a lot about who we are
as a country and who we are as a people.
Back on Nights Side after this
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