New survey shows Dallas Mayor Eric L. Johnson has a 77% job approval rating
Public safety rates as top issue as majority believe Dallas is on the right track
DALLAS — New survey results released Wednesday show that Mayor Eric L. Johnson, who is in the final year of his first four-year term in office, has earned a 77% job approval rating.
Only 17% of survey respondents disapproved of the mayor’s job performance.
The survey, conducted by Garin Hart Yang Research Group, also found that public safety was the top issue among respondents and that 54% of them believe Dallas is moving in the right direction. About 33% of respondents said the city is on the wrong track.
This mood in Dallas stands in stark contrast to a February 2023 University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll that shows that the majority of Texans believe the state is on the wrong track.
The mayor’s approval ratings and the positive response to the right direction/wrong track question were fairly uniform across respondents of different ages, genders, and races.
“Dallas has significant momentum right now that you can sense in our communities, and these survey results truly quantify the positive vibes you can feel in our city,” Mayor Johnson said. “We still have work to do on behalf of the people of Dallas, but I am proud of what we have accomplished despite all of the myriad challenges and crises of the last four years.
"Together, we have made Dallas safer, stronger, and more vibrant. And I look forward to continuing to build on this Big Dallas Energy and solving problems with common-sense solutions in the years to come.”
Since taking office in June 2019, Mayor Johnson has prioritized public safety, economic and workforce development, reducing the property tax rate, addressing homelessness, increasing infrastructure funding, boosting programming for Dallas youth, and improving the city’s parks, trails, and green spaces.
The mayor’s agenda has produced clear results. Dallas this year became the only top 10 American city to record two consecutive years of year-over-year violent crime reduction in every major category. In the last four years, Dallas has added $14 billion in new development and has received national attention and accolades for leading the nation’s economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic. Last fall, Mayor Johnson and the Dallas City Council — which, as a whole, received a 55% approval rating in the survey — reduced the property tax rate to its lowest level in 15 years with the largest single-year rate cut in the city in four decades.
The survey also found that public safety was top-of-mind for survey respondents. In an open-ended question about what they believed were the most important issues in Dallas, respondents said:
- Crime/public safety: 38%
- Education: 24%
- Homelessness: 22%
- Street repairs/potholes: 20%
- Affordable housing: 14%
- Property taxes: 13%
- More police/funding: 12%
- Gun violence/shootings: 12%
In total, 72% of respondents believe Dallas is very or somewhat safe. However, 85% of respondents also said they felt very or somewhat safe in their own neighborhood. In addition, the respondents, by a 2-to-1 ratio, gave the mayor high marks for his handling of public safety matters.
Mayor Johnson commissioned the survey. Questions about top city issues and the mayor and the Dallas City Council’s job performance were asked of respondents very early in the survey, prior to questions that provided them with information about the mayor’s accomplishments or policy priorities.
The Garin Hart Yang Research Group conducted the survey March 8-11 via landlines and cellphones. The 501 respondents were a random and representative sample of Dallas residents who said they were likely to vote in the May election. The margin of error is +/- 4.5%.
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