San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie\u2019s popularity is down about 10 percentage points compared to its recent high, new polls show.\u00a0<\/p>\n
An independent poll<\/a> by the University of Southern California that surveyed 454 likely San Francisco voters this month found that 63 percent approve of the job Lurie is doing. Another poll<\/a> by David Binder Research conducted also this month put it at 67 percent.<\/p>\n Before these, 74 percent of San Franciscans backed Lurie in a San Francisco Chronicle poll<\/a> from this spring. A November 2025 poll conducted by David Binder Research<\/a> and a July 2025 poll by the Chronicle<\/a> both found Lurie\u2019s approval rating above 70 percent, at 71 percent and 73 percent, respectively.<\/p>\n \u201cThere has been a slight decline when you take a look at the polls over time,\u201d said Christian Grose, lead pollster of the independent poll and a professor of political science and public policy at the University of Southern California.<\/p>\n Still, he said, \u201ca mayor with greater than 60 percent approval or more in our current times when almost nothing cracks 50 percent approval is good.\u201d<\/p>\n Lurie\u2019s political spokesperson Max Szabo said in a text message, \u201cVoters overwhelmingly approve of the job Mayor Lurie is doing because they\u2019re seeing progress \u2014 from cleaner streets and more officers to a downtown on the rise. He\u2019s grateful for the outpouring of support but remains focused on the work, not his poll numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n Jason McDaniel, a political science professor at San Francisco State University, cautioned about reading too much into the results. \u201cThese are generally good polls, but there may be less here than you think,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n The five polls were conducted by three different pollsters, who may have applied different methodologies and surveyed different respondents. Prior polls surveyed all of San Francisco, for example, while the most recent<\/a> USC poll surveyed California\u2019s 11th congressional district, which excludes the Excelsior, Visitacion Valley and Portola.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is important not to draw too many conclusions from comparing different polls like this without digging into the specifics,\u201d McDaniel said.<\/p>\n He pointed out that some of the results are within the margin of error. It \u201csuggests that the softening approval trend you see could actually just be normal random sampling error that is within the expected range,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Lurie experienced a quick rise in popularity after assuming office in January last year. Two polls commissioned by GrowSF found Lurie\u2019s favorability rose from 55 percent<\/a> in February to 67 percent<\/a> in July. A David Binder poll this past June found that a similar number of respondents, 65 percent<\/a>, had a favorable opinion of Lurie. <\/p>\n Favorability measures people\u2019s overall opinion of him, while approval measures people\u2019s perception of his job performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n Part of that support may be due to a perception of recovery, especially downtown and in street conditions \u2014 Lurie has made that a focus since day one. Approval of Lurie\u2019s performance in revitalizing downtown rose from 63 percent to 71 percent between 2025 and 2026, and approval for keeping neighborhoods clean rose from 59 percent to 67 percent, according to the Chronicle\u2019s two polls.<\/p>\n In recent months, however, the rent surge \u2014 Lurie declared a \u201crent emergency<\/a>\u201d in September \u2014 has made life harder for tenants and may have rendered Lurie\u2019s \u201cSan Francisco is coming back\u201d message less persuasive.<\/p>\n Also, Lurie has become more politically active \u2014 and therefore divisive \u2014 as mayor than as a candidate who was an acceptable choice for both progressive-leaning and moderate-leaning voters.<\/p>\n His charter-reform proposals, opposition to November\u2019s affordable-housing measure Proposition I<\/a>, and supervisor endorsements have given people, especially progressive-leaning voters, more reasons to disagree with him.<\/p>\n He also endorsed District 8 supervisor candidate Manny Yekutiel this summer after a sexual misconduct allegation surfaced, an action that reportedly convinced another man to come forward with his own allegations, derailing Yekutiel\u2019s candidacy<\/a>. Last year, Lurie nominated Beya Alcaraz for District 4 supervisor<\/a>, but she was forced to resign after only seven days in office. This gave the impression of an office ill-suited to vetting candidates.<\/p>\n