S.L. Council in danger?

Salt Lake City voters may be tiring of their city's government — a feeling that could give pause to incumbents up for re-election this year.

A new poll for the Deseret Morning News and KSL-TV shows only 30 percent of Salt Lake City residents favor re-electing their City Council representative while 39 percent want to give someone new a chance. Another 31 percent didn't know. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 7 percent.

That same poll of 230 city residents, conducted by Dan Jones & Associates, also showed similar disenchantment with Mayor Rocky Anderson — only 36 percent of city residents want the mayor re-elected.

Local political observers are divided on what the numbers might mean, especially for the council.

Some say the data show city residents are fed up with certain City Council members and want some change. They say city politics are returning to times past when voters were quick to oust incumbents, instead of keeping them around. Throughout the 1990s incumbent council members were often dismissed, but in more recent years city voters have been happy to keep the status quo.

Two years ago, for instance, three incumbent City Council members and Anderson all won re-election with ease.

Others downplay the idea the natives are disenchanted. They note that no names of individual council members were used in the survey, and they maintain the poll illustrates an ever-existing dislike of government bodies — something like the "I hate Congress but I love my congressman" mentality.

The poll's demographic data, however, coupled with poll data from the past, show there may be some teeth to the dissension.

For instance, a larger number of Republicans said they wanted their City Council member re-elected while a majority of Democrats want their council person ousted.

Of those polled who said they were Republicans, 45 percent said they wanted to keep their current council member while 28 percent said they want someone new. Among Democrats, only 20 percent said they wanted to keep their council representative while 52 percent said they wanted someone else.

That data might concern a pair of incumbent Republican council members who are representing highly Democratic districts. Carlton Christensen in District 1 and Eric Jergensen in District 3 face challenges from several relatively unknown candidates who are proud to note their Democratic affiliation even if council races are officially nonpartisan.

"I've always been a long outspoken proponent of the fact that there is a disconnect between the council and the city," Salt Lake County Councilman Joe Hatch said. "In terms of ideology they're just more conservative than Salt Lake City is."