As the Chicago City Council considers an ordinance that would greatly restrict ridesharing to help save taxi companies, a new poll commissioned by Uber indicates the vast majority of Chicagoans are opposed to the plan.
According to the survey, conducted by We Ask America, 69 percent of Chicagoans oppose Ald. Anthony Beale's ( 9th ) ordinance. The poll also showed, when given the choice, Chicagoans prefer ridesharing services like Uber over traditional taxi by a more than 4-1 margin.
Among the survey's key findings:
Uber is much more popular than taxi companies in Chicago: 64 percent view Uber favorably, versus 16 percent with an unfavorable view. By contrast, 33 percent of Chicagoans view taxi companies as favorable while 31 percent find them unfavorable.
Few believe taxis will help underserved neighborhoods if Uber left: 76 percent of Chicagoans don't believe taxi will meet the need in underserved areas if Uber were to stop operating its ridesharing service in Chicago. African-Americans had the strongest reaction to the question of underserved areas, although not by a wide margin.
Women overwhelmingly prefer ridesharing over taxi service: Of those surveyed, a stunning 97 percent of women preferred ridesharing over taxi in Chicago when given the choice.
Chicagoans' opinion of Beale drastically declined upon learning he was sponsoring the anti-ridesharing ordinance: 62 percent viewed him less favorably when given that information.
Nearly 82% of the poll participants rejected the idea of the Chicago City Council bailing out taxis by restricting ridesharing.
This survey was conducted of 600 Chicago registered voters between April 17-20, 2016 using live interviewers for all questions from both landlines and cell phones. The margin of error was plus/minus 4.0%.