A newly released voter survey shows Bellevue residents feel increasingly confident about their city’s direction and remain highly positive about downtown safety, even as a growing number of community members report financial strain and declining trust in how the city spends tax dollars.
The findings come from the 2026 VIBe Check (Voter Insights Bellevue), an annual survey commissioned by the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce and now in its sixth year.
The poll was conducted by Fulcrum Strategy Group and surveyed approximately 400 Bellevue voters. Because the survey repeats the same questions annually, it allows year-over-year tracking of how opinion has shifted.
This year’s release also compares Bellevue’s results against the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber’s “Index” survey, now in its 10th year, to benchmark attitudes against the region’s largest city.
Optimism climbs in both cities
Seventy-five percent of Bellevue voters say the city is headed in the right direction, with optimism about the future reaching its highest point in five years. Seattle has seen a similar trend, though from a lower starting point: the share of Seattle voters who say their city is on the right track rose from 28% in 2021 to 48% in 2026.
Downtown safety remains Bellevue’s strongest rating
Public safety continues to be the area where Bellevue voters express the most confidence. Ninety-six percent say they feel safe visiting downtown during the day, and confidence extends into the evening hours as well.
The Bellevue Police Department holds an 86% favorability rating, the highest of any institution tested in the survey, and a figure that has remained in the mid-to-high 80s for several years. The share of residents who feel safe in their own neighborhood has increased annually, climbing from 87% to 93%.
Support for walkability, resistance to bike lanes replacing car lanes
Voters consistently favor investment in sidewalks and pedestrian infrastructure, one of the few funding priorities that draws strong support year after year. The Grand Connection, a planned pedestrian and bike crossing over I-405, is backed by 67% of voters, making it one of the most popular large-scale projects tested in the survey.
At the same time, voters oppose converting existing car lanes into bike lanes, which ranks as the least popular transportation idea in the survey.
Support for adding new general-purpose road lanes has also faded to near zero, with one notable exception: fixing congested intersections remains among the most favored uses of transportation funding.
Financial worry climbs, along with tax skepticism
The survey’s most significant shift concerns household finances. The share of Bellevue voters worried about their personal financial situation rose from 61% in 2023 to 74% in 2026, now exceeding Seattle’s comparable figure of 68%.
That growing unease is reflected in views on taxation and city spending. Sixty percent of Bellevue voters now say taxes are too high relative to the services they receive, up from around 50% in earlier years and approaching levels seen in Seattle.
Trust that the city spends tax dollars responsibly has declined from 71% in 2021 to 53% in 2026. Support for raising taxes to fund low-income housing has dropped from 47% to 28% over the same six-year period.
Two electorates, different profiles
The survey also highlights demographic differences between Bellevue and Seattle voters that help explain the divergence in political attitudes.
Both cities have highly educated populations, with more than 70% of voters holding a four-year degree, and both are ethnically diverse. However, Bellevue’s electorate skews older and more settled, with about 58% of voters age 50 or older and three in four owning their homes.
Politically, Bellevue voters split roughly 47% Democratic, 22% Republican, and 31% independent. Seattle voters are younger, more likely to rent, and lean further left, with close to three-quarters identifying as Democratic or socialist.
All six years of VIBe Check data are available through an interactive dashboard at bellevuechamber.org/vibe-check.
