ADVERTISEMENT

Hillary Clinton Out of Step with Chicago Voters on Rahm Emanuel

Rahm Emanuel and Hillary Clinton / AP
December 9, 2015

Hillary Clinton appears to be out of step with the majority of Chicago voters when it comes to her approval of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a Democratic ally.

Clinton expressed her confidence in Emanuel at a campaign event in Iowa last week amid controversy surrounding the release of two police shooting videos that have now prompted a federal investigation into the Chicago Police Department.

"He loves Chicago and I’m confident that he’s going to do everything he can to get to the bottom of these issues and take whatever measures are necessary to remedy them," Clinton said in Iowa, according to Bloomberg.

Emanuel’s support among Chicago residents has eroded significantly, according to a poll conducted by the Illinois Observer and released Tuesday evening. Only 18 percent of likely Chicago voters approve of Emanuel, while 67 percent disapprove of the job that he is doing as mayor.

A slight majority of those polled also said Emanuel should resign, and 64 percent believe he lied when insisting he did not view the video of Laquan McDonald being shot 16 times by police during settlement negotiations in the spring.

Critics have argued that the video of McDonald’s shooting was withheld from the public because of Emanuel’s reelection fight, a notion the mayor has rejected. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced Monday that the Department of Justice would conduct an investigation into the city’s police department.

Emanuel apologized for the McDonald shooting "that happened on my watch" in a speech to the Chicago City Council Wednesday, taking responsibility for the incident.

The same day, protesters flooded the streets of Chicago, calling fro Emanuel’s resignation.