Poll shows many voters still undecided, Bruce Harrell leading race for Seattle mayor

Results from a poll on Seattle’s primary elections show a plurality of voters firmly undecided in the race for mayor and Bruce Harrell in the lead, followed by M. Lorena González and Colleen Echohawk.

The poll of 617 Seattle residents likely to vote in the Aug. 3 top-two primary was conducted online earlier this week by Change Research on behalf of the Northwest Progressive Institute and was not connected with any candidate or independent-spending committee in the city’s races, NPI executive director Andrew Villeneuve said.

The poll, with a 4.3% reported margin of error, presented respondents with the names of all the candidates on the ballot and asked them who they were voting for. Respondents who initially said they were undecided were asked again to try to make a pick; some did, while some remained undecided for the poll’s results. Ballots for the primary were mailed this week.

There are 15 candidates for Seattle mayor on the ballot. In the NPI poll, 54% of respondents were initially undecided and 32% were undecided even after the follow-up question; 20% ultimately chose Harrell, a former City Council president; 12% chose González, the current council president; and 10% chose Echohawk, who until recently led the Chief Seattle Club.

Harrell did better with older voters, while González did better with younger voters, according to NPI. Former state Rep. Jessyn Farrell and architect Andrew Grant Houston each took 6%.

The NPI poll’s results point to potential trouble for three-term incumbent City Attorney Pete Holmes, though 53% of respondents were ultimately undecided. Holmes secured 16%. Challengers Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, a former public defender, and Ann Davison, a lawyer who ran for lieutenant governor last year as a Republican, each took 14%.

In the race for Position 8 on the City Council, incumbent Teresa Mosqueda led with 26% and 55% of respondents ended up undecided. Among 10 challengers, designer Kate Martin did best, with 6%.

Position 9 on the council is an open race because González is vacating the seat. In the NPI poll, educator and lawyer Nikkita Oliver led with 26%, followed by Sara Nelson with 11% and Brianna Thomas with 6%, while 50% of respondents were ultimately undecided.

Though many respondents in the NPI poll were undecided, 88% said they were definitely going to vote in the primary.

NPI works in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The political advocacy nonprofit, which seeks to build support “for causes like revenue reform and transit for all,” has put out polls before. Change Research is a California-based public-benefit corporation that has done work around the country.