On Tuesday December 12, the Portland Police Association (PPA)—the union for the city's rank-and-file cops—published the results of a poll that they claim represents the opinions of a majority of Portlanders... even though they only polled 500 people. The Oregonian was quick to parrot the results of this slanted poll, gleefully reporting that "a majority of Portland voters" would move out of the city if they could, due to fears of homelessness and crime.
For anyone reading the results, it's obvious that the PPA poll was actually a cynical, fear-based ploy to cast doubt on the forthcoming police oversight board (that was overwhelmingly approved by 82 percent of voters in 2020), in order to convince city leaders to put a new measure (written by the police union) on a future ballot, effectively making Portlanders vote on it AGAIN.
Now that's some bullshit, isn't it? Since there's a very good chance YOU weren't asked to take the police union's poll, the Mercury is proud to present our own admittedly biased poll—because if they can do it, so can we, right? So fill out the quick poll below, and we'll publish the results for all the world to see next week. (And who knows? Maybe if we get more than 500 respondents, the Oregonian will write an article about us too! 🤞)
