A new poll by EMC defies three pieces of conventional wisdom.

1) If you thought Socialist Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant was bugging people with her Combat Rock rhetoric and is on her way out. Guess again!

2) If you thought new Mayor Ed Murray had meh approval ratings. Whoa. Guess again!

3) If you thought people want to throw the bums (the council) out. Guess again!

First, check out Sawant's numbers. Her favorables are up there with longtime council all-star Nick Licata. She's at 50 percent favorable. (Licata is the most popular at 51). The footnote on Sawant is that she also has the highest, by a mile, unfavorable rating at 30 percent (Licata's, by comparison, is at 14 percent.)

At the district level, though—Sawant, in District 3, just south of the Montlake Cut into Capitol Hill, is at 61 percent favorable. EMC notes: "Sawant has the strongest favorable rating at the district level – her favorable in her district is 11 points higher than it is citywide and her unfavorable is 9 points lower."

Second, Mayor Murray has a 70 percent approval rating.

And finally: The rest of the council is not doing as bad as people think. Most (other than Sawant, who's bad on this score, actually) are around a 2-1 favorable rating. And the council member with the lowest rating, Mike O'Brien, 30 percent, is actually at a 3-1 favorable to unfavorable.