New polling looks bleak for San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s prospects of staving off a recall as crime rates soar and the prosecutor faces mounting criticism of his soft approach to cracking down on the city’s lawlessness.
More than two-thirds of voters in a survey conducted by EMC Research plan to vote in favor of the recall, which is slated to take place June 7.
The poll surveyed 800 likely San Francisco voters between Feb. 17-21 and found that 68% supported the recall, while 32% opposed. The poll had a margin of error of 4.4% and found that 74% of voters held an unfavorable opinion of the DA, with 59% strongly unfavorable. When asked how crime in San Francisco compares to a year ago, 68% said it was worse, 25% felt it was about the same, and 7% thought it was better.
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“The campaign to recall Chesa Boudin is a cynical attempt to slam the door on progress,” said Yoel Haile, director of the criminal justice program at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. The group endorsed him Tuesday. “San Franciscans support police accountability and alternatives to mass incarceration. As a candidate, Chesa Boudin promised to enact criminal justice reforms. As district attorney, he has followed through on that promise.”
Boudin, a Democrat, was elected in 2019 when he triumphed over interim DA Suzy Loftus. His tenure was beset by vocal critics of his softer approach to criminal justice. He has faced multiple efforts to invoke a recall election against him. One led by the Safer SF Without Boudin campaign was successful in triggering that process last November.
Critics of Boudin, including organizers of the aforesaid campaign, have faulted him for rising crime in the city. After taking office, he eliminated cash bail and emphasized that his office would not enforce “cases involving quality-of-life crimes” such as public camping.
“The challenge going forward,” he said in 2019, per the New York Post, “is how do we close a jail?”
Under his reign as the city’s top prosecutor, felony and misdemeanor prosecutions dipped substantially. Between 2019 and 2020, misdemeanor charges fell 44%, and felony charges fell by about 30%, according to data his office released. Prosecutions rose slightly in 2021 but still at a significantly lower rate than the period before he took office. Compared to 2019, prosecutions in 2021 declined about 38% for misdemeanors and about 25% for felonies, per data from his office.
Crime rates have jumped in San Francisco during the past year. Cases declined in certain areas between 2019 and 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Assaults fell 14.2%, and larceny-theft dropped 38.9%, while crime in other areas such as homicides increased 17.1% between 2019 and 2020 during that time, according to data from the San Francisco Police Department. But between 2020 and 2021, larceny-theft increased by 23.3%, homicides increased by 16.7%, and assaults increased by 9.3%, according to the SFPD.
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If he is recalled, Boudin will be booted from office, and the city’s mayor, London Breed, will have to appoint an interim district attorney. An election for a permanent replacement would take place in November. Boudin’s campaign has dismissed the recall effort against him as a Republican-fueled initiative.
“Make no mistake: this effort to overturn an election is Republican-led and fueled by fear-mongering and dangerous misinformation. They are pushing this recall at a time when we should be focusing on public health and economic recovery from the pandemic’s devastating toll on our city,” his campaign said in a statement after the Safer SF Without Boudin campaign secured the votes to initiate a recall.
