SEATTLE – Today the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce released the first findings of The Index research project aimed at elevating the region’s most pressing issues and encouraging serious civic conversations to find solutions.

The Index will provide journalists, business leaders, residents, and policymakers with an in-depth, reliable, and regular understanding of what voters in the region are thinking.

This research is not about who’s up and who’s down in candidate elections. It is about better understanding daily challenges from the perspective of the people who live here.

This region is the economic engine of the state. Employers and their employees live, work, recreate, have families, and vote here. Employers are working to recruit and attract talent – either to move here or to stay here – and success in those ventures hinges heavily on the quality of life.

“We all have a stake in continuously improving the health of the city, and this research gives us insights into things like affordability and economic recovery,” said Rachel Smith, President and CEO of the Chamber. “It also shows areas where we need to do better. No one benefits when residents believe quality of life is declining when community trust erodes, and they don’t see visible progress on the critical challenges we face.”

Key findings in this year’s index include:

  • Seattle voters are deeply concerned about the direction of the city and most believe quality of life is worse.
  • Sixty percent of Democrats, who made up two-thirds of the survey sample, are optimistic about the region’s future.
  • Eighty-seven percent of voters agree that a thriving downtown Seattle is critical to our region’s economic recovery. The same proportion agrees that downtown cannot fully recover until the homelessness and public safety problems are addressed.
  • A majority of voters have actively considered moving out of Seattle, citing affordability, public safety, and homelessness as their top reasons.
  • More than 60 percent of voters support new housing in their neighborhoods.
  • Seventy-three percent of voters agree that the city does not have enough high-quality, affordable childcare.

The survey also includes questions and data about housing, safety, and economic recovery in Seattle. Data for The Index was collected and analyzed by EMC Research, a local public opinion research firm (emcresearch.com).

“What this data tells me is that Seattleites know what’s going on in their community, they understand it, they have complex reactions to it, and they want action,” Smith said. “We believe working together on solutions is the path to getting un-stuck on the issues that seem intractable, and we must think bigger about how we address major issues – especially homelessness, public safety, downtown recovery, and affordability.”

The Index will provide issue and quality of life data regularly to highlight trends. The Chamber is making this trove of insights publicly available and encourage policymakers to refer to this data when shaping their understanding of where the public stands on key issues.

This year’s research release was conducted in August 2021 through 458 text-to-web and phone interviews. The margin of error was 5%. The sample was all registered voters.

A detailed summary of data and the crosstabs are available at www.seattlechamber.com.

About the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce

The Seattle Metropolitan (Seattle Metro) Chamber of Commerce is the regional business advocacy organization that engages the innovation and entrepreneurship of its 2,500 members to promote inclusive economic prosperity. Founded in 1882 by local business leaders, the Chamber today is an independent organization representing a regional workforce of approximately 750,000. For more information, visit www.seattlechamber.com.

Media contact: Jillian Henze, APR
Cell: (425) 785-6731
jillianh@www.seattlechamber.com