Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams is going to be very tough to beat in 2016 if his approval ratings are any indication.
Our latest UtahPolicy.com survey finds the first-term mayor enjoys a 67% approval rating. 21% of Salt Lake County residents say they “strongly” approve of his job performance while another 46% say they “somewhat” approve. 10% say they “somewhat” disapprove while only 7% “strongly” disapprove of the job he’s doing.
Put those numbers together and McAdams enjoys a net approval rating that’s a whopping +50.
In fact, the only elected official in Utah with a higher approval rating than McAdams is Gov. Gary Herbert, who has a 72% rating. However, Herbert’s net approval rating is a hair smaller than McAdams’ at +49.
McAdams has not yet announced whether he’s running for another term as Salt Lake County Mayor, but it’s a good bet to assume he is. A source close to McAdams tells UtahPolicy.com that his pre-election internal polling pegs his approval rating even higher at 71%.
So far, no names have surfaced as possible Republican challengers to McAdams.
McAdams has worked hard over the last four years to cultivate a bi-partisan approach to his office, and that seems to be paying off.
- Republicans approve of McAdams’ job performance 62-19% (net approval rating +43)
- Democrats approve of McAdams 71-13% (net approval rating +58)
- Independent voters approve 73-14% (net approval rating +59)
- “Very conservative” residents approve 62-24% (net approval rating +38)
- “Somewhat conservative” residents approve 73-9% (net approval rating +64)
- Moderates approve 71-16% (net approval +55)
- “Somewhat liberal” residents approve 73-13% (net approval rating +60)
- “Very liberal” residents approve 61-18% (net approval rating +43)
These numbers are not without some minor dark clouds for McAdams. He’s barely above 50% approval among voters between the ages of 25 and 44.
- Millennial voters (18-24) approve of McAdams 77-8% (net approval rating +69)
- Those 25-34 approve 56-29% (net approval rating +27)
- 35-44 year-olds approve 55-15% (net approval rating +40)
- 45-54 year-olds approve 76-12% (net approval rating +64)
- 55-64 year-olds approve 83-5% (net approval rating +78)
- Residents 65 and older approve 65-24% (net approval rating +41)
The survey was conducted by Dan Jones & Associates from November 5-14, 2015 among 239 Salt Lake County residents. It has a margin of error +/- 6.34%.
