It’s DNC time in Chicago. What it’s like to actually live here.

The Democratic National Convention is in Chicago this week, which means it’s time for anyone and everyone to bash the host city.
Cranking the hyperbole up to 11, like many others, New York Post columnist Miranda Devine calls Chicago a failing city and quotes a wag who says, “Democrats wanted to hold the convention somewhere safer, but Beirut wasn’t available.”
On Fox News’ Facebook page, under a report by correspondent Chad Pergram drawing parallels between the 1968 DNC and today’s, the comments include “Dismantle Chicago brick by brick. It would be a big improvement” and “It’s sh-tcago—the perfect place for the criminals responsible for its violence and squalor to gather!”
There’s one thing largely missing from the commentaries and coverage on TV and online: What it’s like to live in Chicago.
Fans of “The Bear” on Hulu or this season of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” featuring the NFL Bears get glimpses into Chicago culture: its food scene; its music, from the blues to hip-hop; its high-rise architecture; the “L,” the lakefront bike and running trails and river walk. Throw in the Obamas, Oprah, Bill Murray, Ye and people of every ethnicity and you have the vibrant, diverse city with a little something for everyone that is Chicago. 
We know a lot more about the city from our extensive polling of Chicagoans. The Harris Poll has been diving deep into Chicago for the past five years on topics big and small.
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The locals have sometimes contradictory and certainly complicated opinions and feelings about their hometown. That said, they come together on many major issues.
Here’s the tea:
We love all that Chicago has to offer. Nearly two-thirds of Chicagoans think its summer festivals and mega-events like Lollapalooza or NASCAR’s Street Race that fills Grant Park are an important part of the city’s culture, and half also say they set Chicago apart from other places in the United States. The city’s parks, public spaces and museums are also widely beloved and fly under the national radar.
Bottom line: Three-quarters of residents say they’d recommend Chicago as a place to live and visit.
We’ve had it up to here on taxes. Most Chicagoans say the local economy is about the same (49%) or better (21%) than other places in America, but 3 in 5 also think local taxes and fees are worse than elsewhere.
And most also say taxes are getting only more burdensome: In April, 51% thought that their tax bills had gone up over the previous year, which may explain why voters recently rejected a new property tax that Mayor Brandon Johnson wanted to fund shelter for homeless residents.
We’re big sports fans ‒ to a point. As I write, four of Chicago’s professional sports teams are all planning new stadiums or expansions of existing ones, with overall price tags in the billions ‒ and the hope of some form of public financing.
While 4 of 5 residents call themselves fans of Chicago’s sports teams, the public has no stomach for footing the bill: 61% of city residents say public financing of pro sports stadiums is not a good use of taxpayer money.
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We’re also scared. Violent crime is worse than before and worse than in other places. There were more killings in Chicago last year (617) than in either New York City or Los Angeles, even though both have much larger populations.
And while killings have dropped from the peak in 2021, Chicago still has logged at least 364 homicides through mid-August. It’s no surprise, then, that in our polling crime is consistently the public’s No. 1 concern, cited by 7 in 10 in one survey and 98% in another.
We’re disappointed in our city leaders. A year into the mayor’s term, we asked Chicagoans to assess his performance. Only 9% of city residents rated Johnson’s freshman performance as above average, while 50% graded it below average. Only 1 in 5 said Johnson was focusing his efforts on the right priorities. (Chicago didn’t like its prior mayor ‒ Lori Lightfoot ‒ much, either. She didn’t even make it to the runoff in last year’s election.)
And we’re not really that progressive. The mayor has been pushing what he proudly calls a progressive agenda. What that broadly means is raising taxes and fees to be able to spend more on housing and social services for the city’s marginalized population. The voting population, however, isn’t progressive. Asked in our polls to describe their political ideology, 50% of our Chicago sample call themselves moderate, 34% liberal and 16% conservative. How then to explain Johnson’s election? His supporters went to the polls, while 61% didn’t even bother.
Our tastes are pretty basic. Chicago boasts Michelin-starred restaurants with tasting menus that cost $400 or more per diner. But when it comes to best capturing Chicago’s true self, the restaurants we pick are local hot dog joints like Portillo’s (71%), pizza spots like Giordano’s (65%) and Lou Malnati’s (54%) and Al’s Italian Beef (56%), a rival of Mr. Beef of “The Bear” fame. 
The media can get Chicago wrong. TV shows and movies have been set in Chicago for decades ‒ the long-running One Chicago trio will continue into 2025 at least ‒ and just over half of adults surveyed said they’re generally good for the city’s reputation.
Chicagoans don’t feel the same, though, about news coverage. More than a third say national reporting depicts Chicago as more negative than it really is, and 1 out of 5 have the same critique of local media coverage. (We’ll reserve judgment on how the media do while covering the Democratic National Convention.)
Chicago is a global destination to live, work and do business in, and I am proud to do all three in my hometown.
Locals may grumble, but they also know that the simple generalizations thrown around in headlines don’t capture real life in the city. The reality on the ground is much like it is elsewhere: a beautifully chaotic mosaic of nuance.
Will Johnson is the Chicago-based CEO of The Harris Poll, one of the world’s leading public opinion, market research and strategy firms.