Poll: Mayor Vi Lyles is popular, Charlotte City Council is not

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A new poll of likely voters finds Mayor Vi Lyles is popular while Charlotte City Council is not.

Approval for Lyles is at 51 percent. Charlotte City Council’s approval is at 29 percent.

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The poll found massive disapproval for a pay raise for Charlotte City Council. The survey found 77 percent of voters disapproved of raising council pay by 50 percent, while 68 percent of people disapprove of cutting funding for police training and 79 percent of voters do not support cutting police training funding to pay for council raises.

During budget discussions, Councilmember LaWana Mayfield floated the idea of slashing the police training budget by $1 million to fund council raises. City staff told Mayfield it is not a viable option because it is not a reoccurring expense.

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Among Democrats, approval for Lyles is strong at 62 percent. Charlotte City Council’s approval is up slightly with Democrats, at 37 percent.

"Mayor Vi Lyles' level of popularity is not insignificant, and it's a stark contrast to the collective disapproval voters have for City Council. Lyles has clearly satisfied her base and a majority of voters city-wide with her level-headed, commonsense approach to governing," Forward Charlotte said in a news release.

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Among Democrats, 73 percent oppose a 50 percent pay increase for Charlotte City Council, 64 percent oppose cutting police training funding and 75 percent oppose cutting training dollars to fund council pay raises.

The survey was conducted May 29-31. The margin of error is +/- 3 percent for the general election likely voters. The margin of error is +/- 5.4 percent for likely Democratic voters.

>> Click here and here for the full results of the survey.

Cox Media Group