Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday said his 35 percent showing in a Chicago Tribune poll was the fault of the economic squeeze on the middle class.
The mayor trails Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis in the most recent Tribune poll.
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A Chicago Sun-Times poll showed Emanuel with 29 percent support, and only 8 percent among African-Americans. The Sun-Times also showed Lewis ahead in a one-on-one race.
“There’s tremendous economic stress in people’s lives, which is why I’ve pushed for the minimum wage, which is why I’ve pushed for policies to make sure our small businesses have a fair chance and an equal chance with big companies, ” the mayor said.
“You have to have a set of policies in place — from pre-K to community colleges to playgrounds to parks to after-school activities — to give everybody a chance to not just look at the gains, but know that they have a future in those gains. We’re not where we need to be. We’re not repeating the mistakes that got us into the problems. But we’re not at the pace or place we need to be where everybody’s feeling an opportunity that they have a chance at a middle-class job.”
Yes, it makes sense, but, still, they don’t like the one-term mayor in Chicago, a city known for mayors that stay on for a lifetime.
“Thank God the election is not today, ” Emanuel told reporters, explaining: “When the campaign season comes and there’s a campaign time, I’ll then focus on the polling and the politics associated with that.”
