Majority Support Boston Immigration Policy, White Stadium Redevelopment, Boston-based WNBA Team
The first Emerson College Polling survey of Boston voters ahead of the September preliminary election finds 43% support Mayor Michelle Wu for re-election, while 29% support the head of Kraft Family Philanthropies Josh Kraft. Twenty-four percent are undecided.
“Mayor Michelle Wu starts strong in the first pre-election poll of the year, with 57% of voters thinking the city is headed in the right direction, and 57% holding a favorable view of the mayor,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said. “Wu’s support is strongest among Hispanic voters, at 54%, and Asian voters, at 58%, while Kraft splits the white vote with Wu 39% to 37%.”
Forty-one percent approve of the job Wu is doing in office, while 38% disapprove, 21% are neutral. Fifty-seven percent have a favorable view of the Mayor, while 35% have an unfavorable view of her. Twenty-seven percent have a favorable view of Kraft, while 24% have an unfavorable view of him; 36% are neutral and 13% have never heard of him.
“Wu is most popular among voters under 30, 75% of whom have a favorable view of her, and voters over 70, 63% of whom view Wu favorably,” Kimball added.
A majority of voters (52%) approve of the Boston Trust Act, which bars Boston police from turning people over to federal authorities solely for immigration violations, while 31% disapprove of the act, and 17% are neutral.
“Support for the city immigration policy varies by racial background: 65% of Hispanic voters approve of the Boston Trust Act, along with 57% of Asian and 55% of Black voters. White voters are more split: 44% approve and 40% disapprove of the policy,” Kimball said.
Fifty-one percent of voters think Boston does not have the ability to accommodate migrants seeking sanctuary, while 49% think the city does.
Boston voters were asked if they support or oppose the redevelopment of White Stadium, which will serve as the venue for Boston’s new National Women’s Soccer League team. A majority (53%) support the redevelopment, 22% oppose it, and 26% are unsure.
“Sixty-eight percent of voters who support Mayor Wu for re-election also support the redevelopment of White Stadium, while Kraft supporters are more split: 38% oppose the redevelopment, while 35% support it,” Kimball said.
When asked which candidate for mayor they view will make housing in Boston more affordable, 38% think Wu will, 25% think Kraft will, 31% think no candidate will.
Regarding bike lanes in Boston, 48% think there are too many bike lanes in Boston, 35% think there are enough bike lanes, and 17% think there are too few lanes.
Voters were asked if they think the city of Boston, the MBTA, or Boston Public Schools are heading in the right direction or are on the wrong track.
- 57% think Boston is generally heading in the right direction, 43% think it’s on the wrong track
- 61% think the MBTA is heading in the right direction, 39% wrong track
- 46% think Boston Public Schools is heading in the right direction, 54% wrong track
Of the four major professional sports teams in the Boston region, 65% think the Celtics will be the next to win a championship, 7% think the Red Sox, 5% think the Patriots, and 3% think the Bruins.
“Looking back to April, 2021, only 15% predicted the Celtics to be the next Boston/New England team to win a championship for the city. Now, 65% of voters believe the Celtics will again win a title for the city,” Kimball said.
A majority (68%) of Boston voters would support a Boston-based WNBA team, while 5% would oppose.
Methodology
The Emerson College Polling Boston survey was conducted February 24-26, 2025. The sample of Boston registered voters, n=617, has a credibility interval, similar to a poll’s margin of error (MOE), of +/- 3.9 percentage points. The data sets were weighted by gender, education, race, age, party registration based on 2025 turnout modeling.
It is important to remember that subsets based on demographics, such as gender, age, education, and race/ethnicity, carry with them higher credibility intervals, as the sample size is reduced. Survey results should be understood within the poll’s range of scores, and with a confidence interval of 95% a poll will fall outside the range of scores 1 in 20 times.
Data was collected by contacting cell phones via MMS-to-web text (phone list provided by Aristotle), contacting a voter list (Aristotle) of emails, and an online panel of voters provided by PureSpectrum. Panel responses were matched to the Aristotle voter file using respondents’ full name and ZIP code. The survey was offered in English.
All questions asked in this survey with the exact wording, along with full results, demographics, and cross tabulations can be found under Full Results.
This survey was funded by Emerson College.
