Preparing to withstand a May 11th challenge from longtime foe Frank Scarafile, Union City Mayor Brian P. Stack has a favorable rating of 86%, according to the results of a poll conducted by MacLaughlin and Associates and obtained by PolitickerNJ.com. 

Six percent of respondents said they had an unfavorable opinion of Stack, 7% said they had no opinion of the two-term incumbent mayor, and one percent said they had never heard of him.

MacLaughlin and Associates conducted what they described as the random poll last year between Oct. 11-13. The accuracy of the sample of 300 likely voters is within +/-5.7% at a 95% confidence interval.

Stack's hard re-elect numbers showed 78% of respondents want to put him in City Hall for another term, while 22% want to get rid of him.

The mayor/state senator who prides himself on cellphone call-away constituent service received an 81% mark of satisfaction from those respondents who had had contact with the mayor's office, compared to 16% unfavorable. An additional 93% of people said they were treated with respect, compared to 4% who said they were treated disrespectfully.

In other questions, 69% of respondents said Union City is headed in the right direction, 13% said it's unchanged, and 13% said the city is headed in the wrong direction.

Participants in the poll gave the local public school system a favorability rating of 71% (36% said excellent, 34% said good), compared to 17% who rated the schools negatively (11% checked fair, while 7% said poor). Twelve percent did not answer the question.

The Union City Police Department received a 74% positive rating, compared to 25% negative, according to the poll.