Seventy-two percent of Oahu voters feel Mayor Kirk Caldwell did a good job in his first year in office, according to a recent Hawaii Poll.
While that may seem high for a politician, that’s been the case for the past three mayors, said Rebecca Ward, president of Ward Research Inc., which did the poll for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Hawaii News Now.
Peter Carlisle had an approval rating in the 60s, and before him Mufi Hannemann received a 72 percent approval rating.
She said mayors have the advantage of tackling concrete issues, such as potholes, that can put them in a positive light, while governors, for example, often deal with controversial issues, such as same-sex marriage and education.
"It’s just a different arena they play in," Ward said. "Which is not to say a mayor couldn’t fail horribly and have an approval rating below 50 or 40, but we haven’t seen it in a while."
Nineteen percent of the 484 Oahu voters polled disapproved of Caldwell’s performance, and 9 percent had no opinion or refused to answer. The question has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.
Neal Milner, University of Hawaii professor emeritus of political science, said there may be two reasons for Caldwell’s high approval score: Caldwell hasn’t made any dramatic errors, and he hasn’t been around long enough to get involved in controversial issues.
Caldwell’s recent plan to sell the city’s public housing fell through, but that’s not an issue many people pay attention to, he said.
Surprisingly, Caldwell’s support of the rail project hasn’t affected his popularity, Milner added.
"Whatever opposition is out there to rail, it’s scattered and it’s not mobilized anymore," he said. "What’s happened is it’s got its momentum. … Another way to look at it is that people are happy enough with or worry less about rail so that it doesn’t register when they think about his popularity."
Another factor in Caldwell’s popularity may be his attempt to give a personal touch to issues, such as going out to work with a pothole crew, Milner said.
Some respondents who disapproved of Caldwell’s performance cited his support of advertising on city buses or the rail project.
Phillip Lowman, 62, disapproved of Caldwell, saying he hasn’t seen him make progress on addressing the homeless population, an issue Caldwell said he would focus on in his first State of the City address in 2013.
Honolulu Councilman Ikaika Anderson said he approves of the mayor’s performance because he has put an emphasis on road and sewer maintenance and has made progress in those areas.
He said Caldwell stumbled at the beginning of his term with poor communication with the City Council, leading it to reject his fuel-tax proposal. But since then the mayor’s communication has improved.
Anderson, who has worked with three mayors while serving on the City Council, said each mayor has a different management style.
"This mayor has been open to constructive criticism," he said. "He’s been open to suggestions."
He said more time is needed to give a fair assessment of Caldwell, but he is moving in the right direction.
"I would say that the public seems satisfied with the agenda and priorities that the mayor has set for the city," Anderson said. "Now it’s up to the mayor to go ahead and deliver on those priorities."
