In Sobering Poll, Over Half of New Orleans Voters Say Cantrell Must Go
If the bookmakers in Las Vegas were in the habit of taking bets on political issues, you can bet they would be paying attention to this recent New Orleans poll and wouldn't bet against the effort to recall Mayor LaToya Cantrell.
In an article from the Louisiana Radio Network, we learn that a whopping fifty five percent of Orleans Parish voters want the Mayor recalled.
According to University of New Orleans political science professor Dr. Ed Chervenak the results remained mostly similar regardless of gender, party affiliation or race.
Chervenak continued with, “The fact that these results do transcend race and also gender…so it seems to be fairly broad-based in terms of people’s unhappiness with the direction of the city.”
In the event you are a little late to the party for this one, in late August, a petition to recall the Mayor was filed and will require a total of 53,000 New Orleans voters to sign it and there's an expiration date on the effort.
An article from theadvertiser.com says, "triggering a recall election for Cantrell will be considerably more daunting, requiring signatures from more than 53,000 registered voters within six months. Organizers said they have secured more than 3,000 signatures in less than a week."
Why Are Voters So Upset With The Mayor?
However, the same article from theadvertiser.com laid out the complaints of so many New Orleans voters,
"A large portion of the city is very frustrated and very scared," City Council Vice President JP Morrell said in an interview with USA Today Network.
Things got especially tense for Mayor Cantrell after she appeared in court in support of a teen carjacker; offering little comfort to the victims. She is also under fire for lavish travel arrangements for business trips at taxpayer expense.
Results of the recent poll also show that over 64-percent say the city is headed in a bad direction.
The Mayor Can Make Some Changes And Avoid The Recall
Chervenak does say that the Mayor can make some changes and possibly sway some of these voters away from consenting to sign the petition. “One of the things Mayor Cantrell is going to have to do is change perceptions of her performance in office, and so maybe she responds in a way that does change those perceptions.”
With over five months left to get the required number of signatures, many would say that having collected over 3,000 signatures this early in the game puts orgnanizers on track to see the recall succeed.