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Seattle mayoral candidates answer KIRO 7's questions

SEATTLE — Just as Seattle voters receive their ballots in the mail, the results are in from our exclusive KIRO 7 Poll on the mayor’s race. And it’s tighter than you might think.

Mayor Mike McGinn presides over a prosperous Seattle, but that doesn’t mean Seattle is happy with him.
On a scale of one to 10, with one being “not at all effective” and 10 being “very effective,” voters gave McGinn an average rating of 5.3.
“I'd say a couple of years ago it would have been more like 5 or 6,” said Seattle voter Paul Neibanck, “but he's grown immensely in that job."

In our poll of Seattle voters, 29 percent plan to vote for Mayor McGinn.

“I think the Mayor's doing a great job,” voter Rebecca Sayre said.

33 percent said they would vote for challenger Ed Murray. The largest group, 38 percent, is still undecided.

“Quite frankly, I'm going to vote for Ed Murray,” voter Max Dowd said. “Everyone I know except for 2 people are going to go that way."
McGinn leads among younger voters, while Murray leads among older voters and women.

The independent polling firm Bernett Research polled 399 registered voters who said they either definitely or probably will vote in the November election. They reached 36 percent by landline, 25 percent by cellphone and 39 percent via the web.

The survey was conducted October 7 through 10 and has a 4.9 percent margin of error. Click here to see a PDF of the KIRO 7 Seatle mayoral polling data.

We also asked Seattle voters several other questions, including whether they would support legal pot grows at home, whether Seattle is business-friendly, if speed cameras make our streets safer, and if Chick-fil-A will get a receptive audience here. See each of those results below.

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