Boston Mayor Thomas Menino hasn’t announced whether he’ll run for re-election in November. Credit: Getty Images
Boston residents overwhelmingly support Mayor Thomas M. Menino but are split on whether he should run for re-election in November, according to a new poll.
The Boston Globe survey found more than 74 percent of respondents approve of Menino’s job performance, and 73 percent think the city is on the right track.
But that doesn’t mean Menino has broad support for another term in office: 43 percent said they want Menino to run again, but 36 percent said he shouldn’t. Nearly 21 percent were undecided.
About 60 percent of those surveyed told the Globe that Menino’s poor health could be a factor when they decided whether to vote for him. The mayor spent more than two months in the hospital late last year for a variety of medical issues. Just last weekend, he moved back to his Hyde Park home after recuperating since December at Parkman House, the city-owned official mayor’s residence.
Others are interested in having new leadership at City Hall. About 45 percent said the fact that Menino has served five terms make it less likely they’d vote for him again.
Menino must decide by May 13 whether to run for a sixth term. He’s already the longest-serving mayor in Boston and U.S. history.
City Councilor John Connolly announced his mayoral campaign in February. The Globe found that if Menino ran again, he would defeat Connolly 50 percent to 21 percent, although more than a quarter of voters surveyed are undecided.
The poll was conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. Pollsters spoke with 440 adults by phone from March 20-26. The survey has a margin of error of 4.7 percentage points.
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