Two-Thirds of Voters Have Negative Opinion of Mayor Alvarez, 46% Support Recall

By Kyle Munzenrieder in Politicks
September 10, 2009

Jonathan Postal

Unsurprisingly, Miami-Dade Mayor Alvarez and the County Commission's habit of throwing sizable pay raises to staffers like they were life-vests on a sinking ship while simultaneously throwing funding to cultural efforts and other social programs overboard hasn't proven wildly popular with voters. 

According to a new poll commissioned by Local 10 and conducted by Bendixen and Associates, key county leaders are facing high levels of negative opinion, with 46% of voters even going as far as saying they'd support a recall of the mayor. 

Alvarez is taken the blunt of the backlash. 66% of voters have a negative opinion of him, while only 24% could muster positive feelings. That emotion cuts across the community, with 65% of black and Hispanic voters and 61% of non-Hispanic white voters giving Alvarez a negative review. Only 23% of voters say they trust Alvares either somewhat or a lot, while 74% say they have little or no trust in the mayor. 

The county remains split on the possibility of recalling Alvarez with 46% for it, and 47% against it. 53% of white voters, 61% of black voters are for a recall. While only 38% of Hispanic voters support the idea. 

The County Commission is also deeply unpopular. 45% of voters have a negative opinion of the body, while only 34% have a positive one. 43% of black share those positive vibes, while only 26% of white and Hispanic voters do. 69% have little or no trust in the commission, while 30% say that have some or a lot of trust in the body.

Chairman Dennis Moss is looking at 42% un-favorability, and a measly 17% favorability. County Manager George Burgess is also facing 38% negative opinion, and 20% positive. 

48% of voters oppose the Commission's decision to keep property taxes flat, while 43% support it. The question contained explicitly told voters, “That decision means that most taxpayers will see a drop in their property tax bill for next year. The vote ensures unprecedented cuts in funding for arts programs and for social services for the disabled, elderly and young. The decision also means that a substantial number of county workers will lose their jobs.”

Even amongst homeowners, the decision was somewhat unpopular with 48% opposing it, and 45% supporting it. 

Mayor Alvarez's proposal for a small property tax increase and a plan to lay of 1,700 county workers, while cutting the salary of all remaining county workers by 5% was even less popular. 68% opposed the idea, while only 24% supported it. 

So how would voters like to balance the budget? 

• 59% think the best idea is to cut the salaries of all county employees by 10-20%.
• 19% support increasing property tax rates.
• Only 7% think the budget should be balanced by cutting funding to the arts and social services.
• And just 6% support laying off a few thousand county workers. 

The telephone poll of 400 registered voters was conducted on September 8th, and has a margin of error of 5%.