Ironically enough, it may have taken the re-election of President Donald J. Trump for the residents of one of America’s most famously liberal cities to fall back in love — or at least like — with their hometown.
Portlanders and residents of its nearby suburbs have famously been in sour moods since the pandemic shut down the region in 2020 and anti-police protests filled downtown streets for 100 straight nights that same summer.
Five years later, though, the city’s mood has brightened considerably, a survey of 600 voters commissioned by The Oregonian/OregonLive has found, even as Trump, whose conduct is anathema to the region’s progressive-leaning residents, cements his grip on the levers of federal power.
For many, the news out of Washington, D.C., is an anxiety-elevating churn of chaos and uncertainty, sending Portlanders back into the streets to protest, packing town halls with their congressional representatives and steeling themselves for federal budget cuts impacting their workplaces, government, roads and schools.
Against that backdrop, some Portland-area residents are finding themselves more grateful for the city, warts and all. They say that has improved their outlook, despite nerves left frayed by the administration’s flurry of actions. (It helps, no doubt, that 71% of survey respondents said they feel their personal financial situation is in “good” or “very good” shape.)
“It makes Portland look better – Portland is our bubble, maybe,” said Ryan Manis, an engineer who lives in Washington County who took part in the poll. “The problems that are happening elsewhere make us feel safer and more comfortable in a place where we align with the ideas of the general population.”
The news outlet’s survey underlines the shift in attitudes among Portland-area residents over the past year. A year ago, 39% of respondents said drugs or public safety were their topline concern; that number has fallen to 24%. Portland’s own favorability ratings have gone up too: 34% of respondents said they had a positive perception of the downtown core, up from just 21% a year ago.
It’s not as though it is all coming up (local) roses. Ninety-eight percent of survey respondents said they still consider homelessness a serious or very serious problem — evidence of just how far political leaders, including newly elected Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson have to go to win back residents’ trust on the region’s most intractable issue.
And only 28% of respondents said the region as a whole was headed in the right direction. Still, that’s a significant jump from the 22% from a year ago. Survey respondents told pollsters from Portland-based DHM Research this month that they were markedly more bullish on the state of downtown Portland and the region’s attempts to get a handle on homelessness than they were last spring and even five months ago.
Put another way: Disgust for Trump seems to have left some Oregonians more receptive to politicians like Gov. Tina Kotek, his political opposite, whose negative ratings were down in the Oregonian’s poll, which was conducted March 6 to March 13 and has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Survey participants were reached by telephone or text, and the demographics of respondents was tailored to be representative by age, gender, race, education, income and political party.
“I think Portland and Oregon are taking a stand and trying to protect people’s rights,” said Ross Plambeck, a retired former project manager for the Portland Development Commission (today known as Prosper Portland) who took part in the poll. “[The city and the state] are pushing back as best they can. The tools the president is using can be devastating to universities and cities and people. It is hard to know where he is going to quit.”
Plambeck said he’s also been encouraged by increased foot traffic downtown and pop-ups of new stores and independent shops filling in empty storefronts in areas like the West End around the flagship Powells Books. The city has transformed itself before, he said, and can do so again, though it won’t be overnight.
Luzmila Gomez moved to the Portland area three years ago, fleeing the high cost of rent in Los Angeles. Since then, several of her friends and family members have followed her to the region, drawn by her descriptions of a place that is clean, green and tolerant, not to mention with a functional public transit system and a lot less traffic. She found Trump’s reelection this past November “baffling,” she said, and has been relieved to find herself in Oregon, among what she said are “like-minded” people.
“I was really worried when (the Trump administration) announced that Black History Month and other months were not going to be celebrated,” said Gomez, a poll respondent. “My little brother lives here now and my niece. I went to their schools and they confirmed that there was no change, that this is a sanctuary state. I have found a lot of solace in that.”
Gomez, who lives in West Linn but works near Portland State, said she spends enough time at the university’s Southwest Portland campus to see that some portions of downtown still have a ghost-town feel, as remote work has taken root in the city’s office class. But she noted that Portland’s not alone — she’s observed similar vibes in Los Angeles and New York City.
Manis, the engineer from Washington County, said he has tried to shift his news consumption habits since the election — he’s foresworn the site formerly known as Twitter, owned by Trump adviser Elon Musk — because so much of it seems hopelessly beyond his control. He grew up in Chicago and went to school in Arizona, so he is well aware that the Portland area, like other very liberal enclaves, is a bit of a bubble — and he wouldn’t have it any other way, for now.
“If I leave Oregon, I’m leaving the country,” Manis said. “This is the best place in the whole country.”
Katherine Rouzie, a retired medical librarian who lives in Northeast Portland who also took the poll, had a bird’s-eye view of the unrest of the summer of 2020, when racial justice protesters marched down her street, followed not long after by a convoy of Proud Boys, whom she called “domestic terrorists, whose actions were designed to scare us.”
She knows the toll that the pandemic lockdowns and all that came next left on downtown Portland. But she said she has kept faith in the city’s civic institutions, government leaders and its history of impactful political demonstrations, which she said she’s ready to join again.
Protest culture in Portland has picked back up as the Trump administration settles in. In a new poll conducted for The Oregonian/OregonLive, some residents say they are grateful to live in a place where others share their progressive values.Beth Nakamura
After Trump was first elected in 2016, Rouzie said, she recalled her daughter calling her in tears, worried about the future of women’s reproductive care. Her response was prophetic, Rouzie says now: She reassured her daughter that change might be coming but that Oregon would protect reproductive rights, which has proven true.
“I am appalled and horrified. There are just no words to describe how I feel about this guy and what is going on. Everyone is feeling the stress and getting upset,” Rouzie said. “I feel like we really have to practice a lot of self-care just to survive this.”
Kyle McKinley and his family bought a home in Southeast Portland in 2023 after moving from Ashland. He said they consider the city “a good place to feel a sense of community in a time of uncertainty and threats against marginalized communities in particular.”
He was dismayed by what he called a growing tendency of Oregonians living outside the metro area to pile on Portland in recent years. In fact, he said he doesn’t consider the city substantially different from the one he used to visit as a child and is a fan of the counter narrative spearheaded by The Portland Mercury’s guerilla “Say Nice Things About Portland!” campaign.
“I get that there are encampments and that that is upsetting to some people,” said McKinley, who responded to the poll. “But I haven’t been anywhere on the West Coast in the last 10 or 15 years where that isn’t the case. I am not sure what people are imagining is better.”
News from Washington, D.C., has him on edge, he said, as he contemplates “censorship and cuts to services for veterans, for mental health and PTSD and for survivors of climate disasters, combined with the undermining of the broader economy.
For his family, Portland is a safe port in that storm, he added.
“I can’t think of a better place to be living in terms of having a community that is ready to defend itself from the political, economic and hate crime threats that this administration is imposing,” McKinley said.
— Julia Silverman covers education for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach her via email at jsilverman@oregonian.com