| 
Photo by Dwight Burdette | CC BY-SA 3.0
The first public poll of Boston voters in almost two months shows at-large City Councilor Michelle Wu has pulled away from her competitors as the preliminary mayoral election draws near.
City voters will head to the polls Sept. 14 to winnow the field of five active candidates down to two.
The Emerson College poll, sponsored by television news station WHDH, showed Wu had the support of 24 percent of likely voters, followed by at-large City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George with 18 percent, acting Mayor Kim Janey at 16 percent, District 4 City Councilor Andrea Campbell with 14 percent and former city economic development chief John Barros with 2 percent.
Among somewhat likely voters, Wu’s share of the vote grows to 35 percent, while it shrinks to 22 percent among very likely voters, 21 percent of whom support Essaibi George, 17 percent back Janey and 15 percent break for Campbell.
Wu has increased her support from 16 percent in the last Emerson/7News poll in April, and the share of undecided voters has shrunk from 36 percent to 25 percent.
The poll shows Wu’s strength appears to lie with voters age 18 to 29, white voters and Asian voters, while a majority of Black voters back either Janey (31 percent) or Campbell (24 percent). Essaibi George’s voters and Janey’s voters reported the highest levels of enthusiasm – 64 percent and 63 percent, respectively were “very excited” about their candidate – compared to 53 percent of Campbell supporters and 43 percent of Wu supporters being equally revved up.
Housing continued to top the list of voters concerns, with 19 percent ranking it as their top issue, followed by 16 percent who cited schools, 12 percent who picked crime, 10 percent who chose healthcare, 8 percent who are voting on jobs and 5 percent each who care the most about police reform, environment and transportation.
Thirty-four percent of Campbell voters, 32 percent of Janey voters and 23 percent of Wu voters are most concerned about housing, and represent the larges shares of their supporters. By contrast a plurality of Essaibi George voters, 27 percent, are most concerned about crime.
