Charlotte Voters Oppose Streetcar Study Experiment During Recession...Told Ya

Republican John Lassiter Has Slight Lead Over Democrat Anthony Foxx in Race to Become Charlotte’s Next Mayor...No Street Car!

A recent Cornerstone Poll tested candidates for the Charlotte Mayor’s election to be held on November 3rd. With less than ten days before the election, the survey shows that Republican John Lassiter is leading Democrat Anthony Foxx 42 percent to 37 percent.

“Heading to the finish line, this race is essentially a dead heat,” said Chris Sinclair, partner with Cornerstone Solutions, LLC. While Lassiter is leading Foxx, his lead is within the margin of error of the survey.”

“Jobs and improving the economy (39 percent) and reducing taxes (23 percent) remain top issues voters would like to see the next mayor work on,” said Sinclair. “Voters are also concerned about spending, and strongly disagree with the Charlotte City Council’s recent decision to spend $4.5 million on a study for the proposed $450 million dollar street car program.”

Over 57 percent of respondents said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate running for mayor if they knew he voted in favor of spending millions on the study.

“This could be a negative for Foxx, who voted in favor of spending over $4 million on the street car study should Lassiter, who voted against spending the money, make it an issue in the reaming days of the election,” said Sinclair.

Republican John Lassiter has a solid, double-digit, lead over Democrat Anthony Foxx among Independent voters by a 39 percent to 25 percent margin.

“Independent voters will play a key role in this election, and we also are seeing these voters break to Republicans statewide and nationally,” said Sinclair. “If John Lassiter turns out his base, and holds on to Independents through Election Day, he could pull out a win over Foxx. This race boils down to turnout, and which candidate can distinguish himself from his opponent on issues important to Charlotte voters.”

Cornerstone surveyed 400 registered voters in the City of Charlotte from October 9-13, 2009. The automated phone survey’s margin of error is plus or minus 5 percentage points. Refusal to answer and weighting may introduce additional error. Cornerstone is not involved in any of the campaigns of the candidates tested in the survey.



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Sources: Cornerstone Poll, McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, Charmeck.org, Google Maps