Poll: Detroiters split on whether Mayor should go

By Chris Christoff and Naomi R. Patton,
Detroit Free Press
DETROIT — Nearly half of Detroit residents think Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick should leave office immediately as a result of text messages that revealed an affair with a former aide and eight criminal charges lodged against him this week, a Detroit Free Press-Local 4 Michigan Poll shows. However, 40% said Kilpatrick should stay in office for now.
Ann Selzer, who conducted the poll, said it shows that Detroiters remain conflicted about the mayor because two out of three expect him to leave office before his term is up.

"I don't know if they're caught up in the drama or they like the idea of the legal system doing its work and feel the need to push forward with that," Selzer said.

MOTOR CITY'S IMAGE: Scandal hurting Detroit
The poll, based on telephone interviews Tuesday and Wednesday with 503 Detroit adults, also found:

• 48% are confident Kilpatrick committed crimes, wasted city money, hurt the city's reputation and should resign.

• 20% believe that although the mayor made mistakes, he has apologized and remains the best person to move the city forward.

• 31% said they haven't decided yet what they think should ultimately happen to Kilpatrick.

• Among the 40% who want the mayor to remain in office for now, 46% believe the mayor eventually will lose his $176,000-a-year job, either because he will be convicted or make a plea bargain and resign.

• 62% of likely voters say they'd definitely or probably vote for someone else if Kilpatrick sought re-election in 2009.

• Black Detroiters are almost evenly divided on whether Kilpatrick should resign immediately, with 45% saying yes and 43% saying no.

Thomas (Skip) McDonald, 53, a city employee who said he voted for Kilpatrick in his first mayoral campaign in 2001 but not his second, thinks Kilpatrick should resign immediately.

"It's about how he lied and how he continues to lie," McDonald said. "I believed in him and he let me down and the city down."

But Keair Gibson, 31, a private security officer, said the scandal is blown out of proportion with what he said are illegally obtained text messages.

"I think if his wife can get over it, everyone else should be able to get over it," Gibson said, referring to text messages published by the Free Press in January that revealed an affair between the mayor and his then-chief of staff, Christine Beatty, whom also was charged with perjury, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

The messages showed the mayor and Beatty lied under oath during a police whistle-blower trial last summer when they said they did not have a sexual relationship. The messages also showed that Kilpatrick and Beatty gave misleading testimony about the firing of a top police official.

Gibson said Kilpatrick has done a good job as mayor, and added, "I'm not a racist, but if that was a white guy, all this would have been swept up under the carpet."

Like Gibson, younger Detroiters are more willing to cut Kilpatrick some slack, the poll shows.

Detroiters younger than 35 are nearly three times more likely to think Kilpatrick owned up to personal mistakes and is the best leader (28 percent) than those 55 and older (10 percent).

Sixty-nine percent of white Detroiters want Kilpatrick to resign now, compared with 45% of blacks.

Forty-three percent of blacks said he should stay in office for now. Among them is Linda Gaddy, 45, a schoolteacher. She said the scandal has been stoked by factions in the city that opposed Kilpatrick since his first run for mayor.

But Patricia Holbrook, 53, a white retiree, said Kilpatrick should resign or be forced out by citizens.

"It's a disgrace," she said. "He thinks he got away with something, that he's untouchable. Every picture you see of him, there's always that smirk on his face, like, 'You're not going to get me.' "

If Kilpatrick is looking at re-election in 2009, he has a steep hill to climb.

About half of likely voters said they definitely would not vote for him. Another 11% said they'd probably vote for someone else.

Those who know the most about the text-message scandal are the most opposed to Kilpatrick's serving another term.

He fares poorly across all demographic groups. Whites, however, were much more likely to say they'd definitely vote for someone else than blacks. [MORE]