Those familiar with the results, who requested anonymity to discuss private polling, were stunned: It’s the first time anyone can recall the usually generous Seattle voters being overwhelmingly skeptical of additional taxation.

Moreover, this is a shift from just 18 months prior, when voters responded more positively to the idea of increasing spending on homelessness, according to a separate poll conducted in late 2016 and published here for the first time. Crosscut was looking into the unpublished 2016 results when it learned of the new poll.

The recent polling was conducted by the firm FM3 Research between March 24 and March 30, two months before the Seattle City Council passed a highly contentious employee tax on large businesses to fund housing and homelessness services. However, the debate over the tax had been ongoing since last fall.

The survey targeted likely 2019 voters, who were reached by cell phone and landline. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percent. In general, likely voters in off-year elections can be somewhat more conservative than those in presidential election years.

The polling was funded in part by both the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and its political advocacy arm, the Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy (CASE). Other businesses were also involved in its funding, but Crosscut's sources declined to disclose them.

When asked how serious of a problem homelessness is, 88 percent of respondents answered “extremely” or “very” serious, with only 1 percent answering “not too serious.” Similarly, 81 percent said the number of homeless encampments pose an “extremely” or “very” serious problem. This level of concern dwarfed any other issue in Seattle, including traffic, according to one person close to the polling.

The results do not look great for the Seattle City Council, with strong dissatisfaction on how the elected officials have dealt with homelessness, taxes and housing:

80 percent were very or somewhat dissatisfied with how the council has addressed the rising cost of housing.

61 percent were dissatisfied with progress on income inequality.

55 percent were unhappy with what they perceived as high taxes.

83 percent were dissatisfied with how the Council has addressed homelessness, with a majority, 51 percent, responding “very dissatisfied.”

With that dissatisfaction may come consequences. A slim 29 percent believed city government needs more taxes to address homelessness, while 63 percent believe it already has enough and can solve the problem with more effective spending.

Driving that split is the belief that, with recent increases in spending for homelessness, the problem has not improved: 65 percent said that, as local taxes have gone up, city government has not shown progress in reducing homelessness.

That perception, however, can be generalized to other areas of city government: 56 percent similarly believe that housing, transportation and city services have not improved with increased taxes.

Members of the City Council were not immediately available for an interview. A spokesperson for the Chamber said she had no comment.