A survey conducted by the polling company regularly used by Ed Lee to demonstrate support for his plans and proposals has some bad news for the San Francisco Mayor: His approval ratings are way down, and an awful lot of people are bummed out by the current direction of the city.

Matier and Ross report that between November 30 and December 6, 540 registered voters responded to a poll conducted by Oakland-based EMC Research, which you might recall from Lee-commissioned surveys on topics like how San Franciscans don't hate tech, residents opposed 2014's Muni bond and soda tax, and if people supported Lee's 2011 run for Mayor.

This time around, it was the Mission Bay Alliance (that's the group of folks opposing the Warriors' SF Arena) paying EMC's bill. According to M&R, this winter "Lee’s favorable rating among voters surveyed had plunged to 43 percent. That’s a whopping 18-point drop since a similar poll in March."

This poll also marks the first time since back when he was named "interim" mayor in 2011 that "Lee’s negatives — 49 percent — are greater than his favorable ratings," they report.

Also taking a hit since March are respondents' overall sentiments about the direction of the city. In March, 50 percent said that SF was on the "right track." This time around, only 25 percent felt that way.

In March, only 38 percent thought that “things have gotten pretty seriously off-track” in SF. This winter, that shot up to 52 percent.

While I doubt former SF Mayor and current Chron columnist Willie Brown got a call from an EMC researcher, he's not hiding his displeasure with the mayor, either. In this Sunday's Chron, Brown calls out Lee's response to the caught-on-video San Francisco Police Department shooting of Mario Woods, which happened the evening of December 2 (in the middle of EMC's polling period, I should note).

"Mayor Ed Lee’s consensus style of governing works well when it comes to putting together and passing a housing bond," Brown writes (or, more accurately, dictates to a long-suffering Chron staffer). "It leaves something to be desired, however, when dealing with a crisis like the police shooting of Mario Woods."

"This is a crisis situation," Brown writes, "and the mayor should handle it like one...but in the Woods shooting, Lee looks more like an interested observer than the boss."

Related: Mayor Ed Lee's Vision For San Francisco
Mayor: Video Of SFPD Officers Shooting Mario Woods 'Raised Questions'

According to a recent telephone survey, the more frequently people ride the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's buses, trolleys, and trains, the lower they rated the transit system's service.

That's just one of the fun facts in this year's annual ridership survey, which is on the agenda at today's SFMTA Board meeting, the Ex notes.

This isn't the quarterly customer service satisfaction survey some of you might get in your inboxes (if you don't and wish you did, here's where you can sign up to receive it!): Per the Ex, local opinion research firm Corey, Canapary & Galanis questioned 568 adult English, Spanish, and Cantonese-speaking San Franciscans who ride Muni, on the telephone, between June 16 and August 3.

The Ex reports that 68 percent of the survey respondents who ride Muni once a week (or less) rate its service as excellent. That number dropped to 63 percent when people who ride Muni five days a week or more were questioned. So Muni is basically that friend who seems like a blast when you run into them at some party every couple of months, but if you see them more than that, you're all "oh, yeeeeeaaah, that's why we never hang out."

Fourteen percent of survey respondents cited "station and vehicle cleanliness, as well as overcrowding" as the area Muni needs to improve the most. Respondents also had critical things to say about their fellow passengers, citing as "major issues" the problems of "Boarding before giving people a chance to exit, not giving up a seat for seniors or those with disabilities, littering, talking too loudly or playing loud music, blocking the aisle, pushing or bumping passengers, rudeness to the driver or other passengers, and least of all, taking up more than one seat," the Ex reports.

If you want to get the full scoop on what those 568 people who answer the telephone when an unfamiliar number calls have to say, you can hit the SFMTA Board meeting today for the full "discussion and possible action regarding the Muni Customer Satisfaction Survey," which will include a slide presentation! The party starts at 1 p.m. in City Hall room 400.

Related: Muni Will Never Suck Again, Now That Their Long-Standing Driver Shortage Has Ended

We strive to be the best damn blog in San Francisco. In pursuit of that goal, we occasionally gotta put our ear to the ground and take advice from our amazingly avid (and equally sassy) readership. Modern technology allows us to do so with an internet survey that takes a paltry four minutes. That's where you come in: Please actually take it. We've even thrown in a chance to win an iPad mini to sweeten the pot.

Feel free to say what you like, what you don't, and what you'd like to see. More feedback means a smoother site, better content and extra relevant ads. You get to rant AND reap the rewards. Talk about a win-win.

(Here's a link to the survey if you can't see it below!)

How happy are we all today? Happier than we were yesterday, maybe, because the weekend beckons. But are those of us in SF or the East Bay less happy that the folks in Silicon Valley? A survey released earlier this month says we are way more bummed than San Jose residents...or, for that matter, people in Sarasota, Florida; Oxnard, CA; or El Paso.

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index "ranks the 100 largest communities in the United States by their comparative well-being" which, for the sake of simple clarity, I boiled down to as "happiness" in this piece's headline and lead.

But it's actually a lot more complicated. From Gallup:

These community-level data are based on more than 176,000 interviews with U.S. adults across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, conducted from January through December 2014. All reported communities are metropolitan statistical areas as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. The Well-Being Index is calculated on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest possible well-being and 100 represents the highest possible well-being. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index score for the nation and for each community comprises metrics affecting overall well-being and each of the five essential elements of well-being:

Purpose: liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals
Social: having supportive relationships and love in your life
Financial: managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security
Community: liking where you live, feeling safe and having pride in your community
Physical: having good health and enough energy to get things done daily

So, yeah, it's a happiness ranking — but it's a lot more than that. The report is really fascinating! I've uploaded it here so you can read it too, and see how each area scored on each of those five elements. Here are America's top 20 communities, ranked by the criteria above:

1. North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton
2. Urban Honolulu
3. Raleigh
4. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura
5. El Paso
6. Austin-Round Rock
7. Provo-Orem
8. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara
9. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria
10. Winston-Salem
11. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
12. San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward
13. Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land
14. Chattanooga
15. Spokane-Spokane Valley
16. San Diego-Carlsbad
17. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington
18. Omaha-Council Bluffs
19. Cape Coral-Fort Myers
20. San Antonio-New Braunfels

While LA spanked SF and Oakland in the well-being race, we can comfort ourselves in the knowledge that we creamed New York (#55), Seattle (#62), and Portland (#63). Remember those numbers the next time someone snootily tells you that they've "outgrown" SF and are moving to one of those places! (On second thought, don't! Let them go, we can use their apartments.)

At the bottom of the list is Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pennsylvania, which also has the worst "purpose" and "social well-being" scores. Other bottom of the list dwellers: Toledo, Ohio; Knoxville, Tennessee; Dayton, Ohio; and Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Indiana.

This? This is just a cat that enjoys ruining dinner plans. And what do you enjoy? Talking about yourself, probably! SFist is doing a readership survey for 2013 and we'd love to know more about you, so click on through and let us know!

This? This is just a cat that enjoys ruining dinner plans. And what do you enjoy? Talking about yourself, probably! SFist is doing a readership survey for 2013 and we'd love to know more about you, so click on through and let us know!

"Bicycle use in San Francisco is increasing," says the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), and they would like to know your thoughts on long-term bike parking (i.e., "people who need to leave a bicycle for longer than two hours"). They're "evaluating the feasibility of long-term bicycle parking facilities" in the city, so basically you should take the thing.

The survey takes only a few minutes, and you can take it even if you don't ride a bike in the city. Some of the questions seem geared more toward issues at the train station, but also involve other questions about whether you'd be willing to pay for bike parking improvements, how often you ride, etc. -- stuff that really needs your feedback. Hop to it. Thanks.

[via Live SOMA]

If you're one of those types who enjoy the glacial waters along the bayside in San Francisco (e.g., surfing, kayaking, fishing, clam foraging, wind surfing, or swimming), please take the SFPUC survey at once! It will help them learn how much these places are used and in turn help them better serve you. It also has something to do with sewage overlap, so brace yourselves.

The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) is helping BART conduct some much-needed information gathering, and they need your help. This survey wants to know, exactly, what your relationship is with BART police. Are BART police courteous? Are their priorities in order? Has their presence increased or decreased to your liking? Or, more to the point, do you have any confidence in your BART police enforcement? Let them know. It should only take 5 to 10 minutes. If you recall, BART police officers royally screwed up on New Year's Day.

Better than anyone would have ever expected, San Francisco local government received a (very generous) C+ grade on its annual survey. The city polled around 2,700 residents between January and March, and its findings released today. While it would have been nice to see SF citizens score their leaders somewhere in the 'gifted' range, that's just not the case. Blame it on a chronically distant mayor who has trouble laughing at himself, a group of (alleged) progressives who anointed a mentally-unfit celebrity as their king, overly persnickety residents, or whatever. Fame-whoring masquerading as leadership aside, overall city services scored somewhere between the A to B range, public transit scored a B (!), and public safety scored a B. With regard to Muni, the reports goes on to say, "62 percent of residents gave Muni favorable ratings for convenience of routes, but only 42 percent for safety, 39 percent for driver courtesy, 33 percent for timeliness and reliability, and 30 percent for cleanliness."