A new poll shows Democrats in one of California’s largest cities support firing their district attorney amid a rise in crime.
With about three months until a vote that could remove San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin from office, a new survey shows bad news for Boudin.
Conducted by EMC Research, the poll examined support for Boudin’s June 7 recall election and found broad support for his impeachment, even among Democrats.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
In 2021, San Francisco saw an increase in homicides, aggravated assaults and car break-ins, NBC Bay Area reported, in addition to an overall increase in gun violence in the city.
The number of murders has increased since 2019. There were 56 homicides in San Francisco last year, compared to 48 in 2020 and 41 in 2019, NBC BayArea reported.
When it comes to aggravated assault in San Francisco, there were more than 2,380 in 2021. However, the year before, 2020, there were 2,183 cases of grievous bodily harm.
the Los Angeles Times reports that some think the city has become a “lawless place.”
Nearly 70 percent of likely primary voters support efforts to remove Boudin, according to the poll. According to the survey, 64 percent of registered Democrats are in favor of the recall election.
The poll also found that nearly 75 percent of San Francisco voters are dissatisfied with Boudin’s job performance. When asked whether they agree or disagree with the statement that Boudin “keeps San Francisco safe,” 73 percent disagreed with that statement.
In November 2019, Boudin announced that the city would no longer prosecute those accused of prostitution and public urination.
Before taking office, Boudin released a statement on social media that “there could be no justice if we use jail and jail as a solution to all our problems.” That statement also added that “we need to think differently.”
NBC Bay Area also reports that since Boudin’s election in November 2019, more than 50 attorneys have either been fired or have left their jobs.
Two of those people who were fired and were both prosecutors — Brooke Jenkins and Don Du Bain — actually joined efforts to remove their former boss.
Jenkins said she disagreed with the direction in which Boudin took office.
“Chesa is taking a radical approach, which is about not charging criminals in the first place and just releasing people without rehabilitation and putting them in positions where they’re just more likely to re-offend,” she told NBC Bay Area.
Both told the station that since taking office as district attorney, Boudin’s actions have only served to further endanger San Francisco and its citizens. They accused him of opting for light sentences and letting offenders out early. In some cases, they continued, he would choose not to indict charges even if there was evidence to warrant such action by the district attorney.
Former prosecutor du Bain also did not hold back in his criticism of Boudin’s work performance.
“He’s basically flouting the laws he doesn’t like and he’s flouting the court decisions he doesn’t like in order to enforce his own version of what he thinks is fair — and that’s not the prosecutor’s job,” du said Bain told NBC Bay Area.
The EMC Research poll collected the opinions of 800 likely voters in San Francisco via phone, email, and text-to-web polling. The poll was conducted between February 17th and 21st.
news week reached out to Boudin’s campaign for comment, but received no response prior to publication.
–
