SEATTLE — There’s one place in Washington where folks are more pleased with the way things are going here than those in any other part of the state. But even there, there’s still a lot of discontent.
That place is King County, according to a new poll of state residents who voted in the November 2024 general election.
Portland-based DHM Research conducted a postelection online survey of 504 Washington voters to help gauge voter perceptions and understand what drove election results. The survey was conducted from Nov. 6-10, and has a margin of error of +/- 4.4%.
One survey question asked respondents if Washington was headed in the right direction or on the wrong track. Overall, a slim majority — 53% — said the state was on the wrong track, with 40% saying it was headed in the right direction. Eight percent said they didn’t know.
The responses to this survey question had a noticeable geographic divide. King County was the only part of the state where more voters said things were going well than going badly.
But even in King County, just 50% of respondents felt things were going in the right direction, with 43% saying Washington was on the wrong track, and the remaining 7% not knowing.
Not great, but better than everywhere else. In Western Washington overall, “wrong track” topped “right direction” 53% to 41%, and in Eastern Washington, it was 61% to 30%.
There was an even sharper divide along political lines. A majority of Washington Democrats — 57% — said things were headed in the right direction, compared with just 27% of Republicans and 26% of Independents.
There weren’t significant differences in the response to this question along other demographic categories, such as gender, income, education and race/ethnicity.
The survey asked both those who felt things were headed in the right direction, and those who felt we were on the wrong track, to explain why they felt that way. Researchers placed respondents’ answers into general categories. If respondents touched on more than one idea in their response, it was counted in more than one category.
It’s clear from looking at these responses that two people living in the same state can have diametrically opposed perceptions of the same issue. That difference in perception seems to be tied to politics, with Republicans seeing Washington in a much less rosy light than Democrats.
Among those who felt Washington was on the wrong track, one answer came out clearly on top, selected by 29% of respondents. It was related to the economy and cost of living: “Poor economic policies/rising cost of living.”
The second most selected response, chosen by 19%, was political: “Democrat is in charge/far too liberal.”
Two answers tied for third place among those who felt Washington was on the wrong track, both selected by 15%, one related to taxes and the other to governance: “Taxes are too high” and “Poor leadership/lack of vision/poor priorities.”
Among those who felt Washington was headed in the right direction, there was no clear No. 1 reason. Two reasons headed the list, both selected by 20% of respondents. One was related to Washington’s eco-friendliness: “Continued environmental efforts/climate change/moving toward clean energy sources.” The other reflected more general positive feelings about the state: “There is nothing wrong here/the best place to live in/Things are improving.”
Two other answers were close behind, both selected by 18% of respondents. One was related to the state economy and the cost of living: “Good economic policies/Prices are getting lower.” The other was about governance: “Good leadership/capable leaders.”
