CHICAGO – Allegations of corruption at City Hall have sent Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's (search) job approval rating to its lowest level since he became mayor in 1989, according to a new poll.
Only 53 percent of the registered voters polled said they approved of the job Daley was doing and less than half of them said they would like him to run again for mayor, according to a Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV poll of 700 registered voters in Chicago.
Thirty-nine percent of voters would prefer that Daley not run for a fifth term, the Tribune reported in Sunday editions.
Daley won about 80 percent of the vote when he ran for his fourth term in 2003, and two years ago, three out of four city voters approved of the way he did his job.
Among black voters polled, Daley's job approval rating was 43 percent, while white voters gave him a 59 percent rating and 56 percent of Hispanic voters said they approved of Daley.
The poll, conducted May 16-18 by Market Shares Corp. (search) of Mount Prospect, had an overall error margin of 4 percentage points.
On Saturday, Daley spokeswoman Jacquelyn Heard said the mayor has to make unpopular decisions but works hard to improve Chicago every day.
"He doesn't govern the city by polls," she said.
Daley's fifth term as mayor has been tainted by revelations that several firms run by white males had been receiving city contracts designated for minority- or women-owned companies.
In response, Daley ordered a thorough examination of companies that have contracts earmarked for businesses run by women and minorities. On Tuesday, the city revamped its application process for those businesses to prevent abuse of the program.
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