People want their next representative in Congress to pay significantly more attention to local issues.
That’s according to a Mission Local survey — not a scientific poll — conducted at the end of April of more than 900 respondents reached via Mission Local’s newsletters, website, and social media.
They consisted primarily of Mission Local readers who self-identified as voters in California’s 11th congressional district, where state Sen. Scott Wiener, Supervisor Connie Chan, and tech centimillionaire and former Capitol Hill staffer Saikat Chakrabarti are vying to be Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s successor.
“Ask what is important to all of us. Don’t hide out in Washington. Be present,” wrote one respondent who asked for anonymity.
“I wish I knew how much they love S.F., what are their favorite parts? Food places? How about secret places they’d recommend? I want to feel like they love our city as much as we do!” wrote another respondent who also asked for anonymity.
Those surveyed are yearning for change. Over half of participants (53 percent) want their member of Congress to bring a fresh approach differing from Pelosi’s, while just 19 percent said they want the next representative to continue Pelosi’s approach.
Pelosi recently endorsed Chan and will participate in in-person campaigning for her in the final days leading up to June 2. Chan’s rival for the No. 2 slot in the primary. Chakrabarti, meanwhile, has built his campaign as a vocal critic of the Democratic establishment.
A solid majority of respondents (64 percent) want their next representative on Capitol Hill to focus equally on local and national issues. While the formal power of a member of Congress is mostly national, part of the job is also about advocating for constituents — helping residents with federal agencies, securing federal funds and translating local priorities into federal action.
Pelosi, for example, has helped pull in billions of federal dollars for San Francisco projects.
But, occasionally, survey respondents feel there has already been too much discussion about certain local issues. “If I read ONE MORE complaint about the sunset dunes I will literally just not vote for any of the supervisors. There was a vote, it’s done. Stop trying to change it back — it’s done,” one commenter said.
Seventeen percent of respondents want their representative to be “focused more on national issues,” while another 17 percent selected “focused more on San Francisco issues.”
“Democracy protection & anti-corruption” came as the most important issue for respondents in the survey, selected by 73 percent. It was followed by “cost of living & local economy” and “taxation & wealth inequality.”
In general, people care more about domestic issues than foreign policies, with “Israel & Gaza,” the most-selected foreign policy area, coming in ninth in a list of 21 issues. Respondents, on average, marked 10 issues as very important to them.
Participants in this survey are quite different from the actual voting population in CA-11. They tend to be politically engaged voters who lean more progressive, with half identifying themselves as “Progressive Democrat.”
When asked what’s something the candidates could say or do to earn or lose their trust, most respondents mentioned contributions from corporate PACs, real estate developers, tech billionaires, AIPAC and other large special interests. They said they would prefer candidates who either refuse these contributions or disclose all major funders and remain fully transparent about personal finances and political ties.
Other frequently mentioned factors that could affect respondents’ trust in a candidate include views on military funds and weapon shipments to Israel, a proven track record of delivering on promises, a willingness to speak straightforwardly without relying on political boilerplate, a focus on constituent needs rather than using the office for national ideological grandstanding, and an explicit commitment to aggressively taxing the wealthy.
“I want to see strength against this administration — not ‘we don’t like it’ and then nothing is done,” said one comment.
Respondents also want to see the next representative wield their vote and voice to increase housing affordability, stand up to President Donald Trump, establish universal healthcare, reduce San Francisco’s cost of living, protect undocumented immigrants, and add federal funding for public transit.
Respondents would also like to see more spotlight on the merit of the Citizens United ruling, which paved the way for the creation of Super PACs — all three candidates, who rely on very different fundraising methods in this race, believe the ruling should be overturned.
Other areas respondents mentioned as important included making climate change an immediate priority at the federal level, regulating AI to protect workers and restricting corporations, expanding local public transit networks, limiting the political influence of tech and corporate billionaires, protecting the evaporating middle class, and protecting renters and small businesses from real estate developers.
Respondents to this survey tend to follow the race very closely — much more closely than the average voters in this district — with 96 percent saying they are paying “some” or “a lot” of attention to the race.
Chan leads as the top choice of 37 percent of participants, with 29 percent choosing Wiener and 25 percent choosing Chakrabarti. By contrast, in polls of broader swaths of the electorate, Wiener usually draws some 40 percent, while Chan and Chakrabarti each receive about 20 percent.
As Chan and Chakrabarti share a crowded progressive lane, 28 percent of participants would pick Chakrabarti as their second choice, if their preferred candidate does not advance to the November general election. Twenty-seven percent would pick Chan, and 13 percent Wiener.
Participants also tend to be older than the actual voting population with the median respondent falling between the ages of 55 to 64. The group also overrepresents homeowners and underrepresents renters; overrepresents white voters and underrepresents Asian, Latinx and Black voters. The top three ZIP code areas where respondents live are the Mission-Bernal area, the Castro-Noe Valley area and the Sunset.
The survey was a collaboration between Mission Local and a reader, Galen Panger.