THE TIMES POLL : Divided City Sees Politics in Mayor’s Move

While Los Angeles residents remain sharply divided over whether Police Chief Daryl F. Gates should resign because of the Rodney G. King beating, a majority believe politics rather than civic good drove Mayor Tom Bradley to call for the chief to step down, a Los Angeles Times Poll has found.

The poll also revealed that 58% of Los Angeles residents approved of the Police Commission’s decision Thursday to place Gates on a 60-day leave of absence, while 38% opposed it. The leave was thrown into question Friday, when the City Council ordered the city attorney to reverse it Monday in court.

The poll portrays a city that is divided along racial lines in its attitudes toward Bradley and Gates and their actions resulting from the King affair.

The survey found that six out of 10 respondents believe that, in calling for Gates to resign last week, the mayor was trying to further his political aspirations rather than, as he stated, to mend a divided city. In addition, 42% of all residents believe that the mayor has further split the city. Only 20% believe he has helped heal it, and the rest said he has had no effect.

“Bradley certainly did himself no good,” said Times Poll director John Brennan, who supervised the survey. “Whether his motivations were sincere or political, he has failed on both accounts. He has failed to bring the city together by calling for Gates’ resignation and he has failed to help himself politically.”

The Times Poll, which was conducted Wednesday and Thursday, has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. The poll surveyed 916 city residents; 620 were interviewed Thursday, after the Police Commission voted to place Gates on a paid administrative leave.

The King beating, captured on videotape by an amateur photographer, has thrust Gates and the Police Department into a center of a national uproar over police misconduct. Four LAPD officers have been indicted on charges of felony assault with a deadly weapon; others who stood by and did not intervene are being investigated by a grand jury.

The March 3 beating has carried racial overtones because King is black and most of the officers who were at the scene are white. This week, as Bradley asked Gates to step down, the focus of the controversy shifted to a bitter political struggle between the two most prominent public officials in Los Angeles. Deep division remains on the central question of Gates’ future.

Twenty-seven percent of Los Angeles residents said they now believe that Gates should resign immediately over the King beating. That is a slight decrease from the previous survey, in which 31% said the chief should step down right away.

Among those polled this week, an additional 37% said the chief should step aside if an investigation proves his officers committed wrongdoing, up from 31% two weeks ago.

The percentage who believe Gates should stay in office has remained the same, 32%.

Brennan said the figures demonstrate a solidifying of public opinion on the resignation question.

“I think we’ve got a very polarized city,” he said. “I think that people are beginning to dig in with their opinions.”

Bradley’s call for Gates to resign made public a long-simmering political feud. The poll found that, while residents generally are more supportive of Bradley than Gates, their support for the mayor in this political battle is diminishing.

After the King beating, Bradley called for an amendment to the City Charter that would give him the authority to remove the police chief after a five-year performance review. Gates, who is protected by the city’s Civil Service system, opposes such a measure, saying it would make the Police Department vulnerable to political pressure.

The Times Poll found that more than half of all city residents--53%--now oppose giving the mayor such authority, while 39% favor it. In the survey taken two weeks ago, city residents were split evenly on whether Bradley should be able to remove the chief.

However, the poll found that when people are asked to choose between the positions Gates and Bradley hold on specific issues, more side with Bradley than with Gates.

The numbers are sharply divided along racial lines, with blacks and Latinos more often siding with Bradley and Anglos more often supporting Gates.

The poll found stark racial differences when it asked residents if they believe Bradley, who says Gates must leave in order to restore confidence in the Police Department, or if they believe Gates, who says he must stay to provide leadership to his officers.

On that question, 57% of Anglos said they agreed more with Gates, while 32% agreed with Bradley.

Among African-Americans, 65% sided with Bradley, while 11% supported Gates. Among Latinos, 61% sided with Bradley, while 31% agreed with Gates.

Poll results divided along racial lines as well on the question of whether Bradley or Gates is the more ethical and honest. Among Anglos, two in five said Gates is more honest, compared to one in five for Bradley. The remainder said neither or were unsure.

Among African-Americans, nearly half--49%--said Bradley is more ethical and honest, while 10% backed Gates. Nearly half of all Latinos said Bradley is more honest, while one in five said Gates has a better record for honesty.

This week’s survey found that Gates’ overall job approval ratings--which have been low in the wake of the beating--increased very slightly. Overall approval for Bradley--which has remained relatively high--took a slight dip.

According to the poll, 35% of all Los Angeles residents approve of the way Gates is handling his job, up from 31% two weeks ago and 33% four weeks ago, just after the King beating occurred.

The mayor had a 53% approval rating, down from 57% two weeks ago and 61% four weeks ago.

If the two men were running against one another for mayor today, the poll showed that Bradley would come out ahead in all three racial groups, and would win the election with 51% of the vote, compared to 18% for Gates. Twenty percent of all respondents said they would not vote for either man.

As for city leaders generally, the poll showed that residents are split over whether they are doing any good in the wake of the King beating. Only one in four believe that the city’s leaders have made the atmosphere in Los Angeles better, while one in three believe they have been detrimental and the rest think their actions have been irrelevant.

While more than half of all residents still believe the correct amount of attention is being paid to the King beating, the poll found that nearly two in five respondents think the case is receiving too much attention. That is a noticeable increase from two weeks ago, when one-quarter of all residents said too much attention was being paid.

The survey also found an increase--from 5% to 17%--in those who think the mayor is being too tough on the Police Department, although they are outnumbered 3 to 1 by those who think the mayor is doing what he should.

In addition, the poll found that Bradley’s call for Gates to resign had little effect on what people think should happen to the chief, with two-thirds of all respondents saying Bradley’s announcement did not change their opinion.

The remainder of those polled were split almost evenly, with 14% saying Bradley’s statement made them more likely to favor Gates’ resignation, and 16% saying it made them less likely to favor the chief’s departure.

While the poll found that the public has little faith in the city’s political leadership, it did show confidence in the criminal justice system. Asked whether justice will be done in the case involving King and the police, a majority of respondents--three out of five--believed that it would.

In addition, most of those surveyed believed that commissions appointed by Bradley and Gates to investigate the King beating would be effective in improving the performance of the Police Department, with 64% believing that the mayor’s commission would be effective and 54% believing that the chief’s commission would be effective. Those panels have since decided to merge.

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES POLL

The Los Angeles Times Poll interviewed 916 adults in the city of Los Angeles by telephone on Wednesday, April 3, and Thursday, April 4. The question on Gates’ leave of absence was asked only on Thursday, April 4, after the Police Commission action placing Gates on a leave of absence. That question is based on 620 adults interviewed on Thursday.

Do you think Police Chief Daryl Gates should:

APRIL 4 MARCH 21 MARCH 8 Resign immediately 27% 31% 13% Resign if investigation proves wrongdoing 37% 31% 27% Should not resign 32% 32% 48% Don’t Know 4% 6% 12%

Whose actions and statements have done more to improve the atmosphere in L.A. in the wake of the Rodney King beating? Bradley: 46% Gates: 23% Both equally: 5% Neither: 18% Don’t Know: 8% When it comes to questions of ethics and honesty, who do you think has the better record? Bradley: 37% Gates: 26% Both Equally: 7% Neither: 14% Don’t Know: 16% If the 1993 election for mayor of Los Angeles were being held today, and the candidates were Tom Bradley and Daryl Gates, for whom would you vote: Bradley: 51% Gates: 18% Neither: 20% Someone Else: 3% Don’t Know: 8% Do you approve or disapprove of the decision to give Police Chief Gates a temporary leave of absence of at least 60 days? Approve: 58% Disapprove: 38% Don’t know: 4% NOTE: The sample in this poll includes 525 Anglos, 189 Latinos and 114 blacks. Results are weighted to reflect the proper proportions of the city’s population subgroups, utilizing census data on race and national origin, sex and labor force characteristics. The margin of sampling error for results based on the citywide sample is plus or minus four percentage points. The error margin for the sample of those interviewed Thursday night is also four points. For the Anglo subgroup the error margin is plus or minus five points, for Latinos it is plus or minus eight points and for blacks plus or minus nine points.