As the city prepares to swear in its newly elected City Council, our latest Santa Monica Pulse Poll asked residents to weigh in on the state of affairs in Santa Monica.

All four of Santa Monica’s political “establishment” candidates—those backed by Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights—won the four open City Council spots in this last election. This ousted members of the “Safer” slate who ran on a platform of increasing public safety. We asked residents how confident they are in the newly-elected City Council’s ability to improve public safety. 71 percent said they were “not confident” while only 16 percent were very or somewhat confident. Another 11 percent were unsure.

We also asked residents to name their top priority for the new City Council. The top two issues were increasing public safety (44 percent) and reducing homelessness (32 percent).

When asked if they believed Santa Monica was headed in the right direction, the vast majority (73 percent) said no. Only nine percent said yes, and about 17 percent weren’t sure.