CGIL conducted a survey of a sample of 1,500 people to learn about voters’ priorities. Alongside the main findings, voters feel that cleanup is necessary for Porto Marghera.
April 7, 2026
By Daniele Ferrazza
Housing, safety, and healthcare appear to be the top priorities for Venetians at the moment.
1,500 Venetian citizens responded in recent days to a questionnaire promoted by CGIL about the main problems facing the city. This was not meant to be a political poll, but rather a surface look at public sentiment on the eve of the important elections that will choose a new mayor and city council.
Three themes clearly emerge, generating a strong sense of alarm: the need to find housing, the availability of local healthcare services, and the burden of tourism, which is suffocating residents.
On the other hand, satisfaction with public services is relatively positive: the majority of those interviewed said they already enjoy most services within a 15-minute radius of their home. Where they are above this threshold, Venetians demand a GP and a municipal help desk for basic medical needs.
Regarding the heated question of the access fee, most Venetians say “it’s not useful for curbing tourism” and one in five say “it should be eliminated” altogether. Only 7 percent believe it’s a useful measure to manage the millions of tourists who visit Venice every year.
Regarding security, the responses were more blunt: when asked if they believe the municipality is experiencing a security emergency, 41% said yes and 46% responded “yes, in part”.
The response regarding the causes was interesting: according to the majority of Venetians interviewed, the reasons for the security emergency lie in addiction and substance abuse, poverty, and degradation. Thus, voters see a “social” explanation for the issue of crime and petty crime.
Ninety percent of those interviewed called for defending neighborhood shops, which they consider essential to stem the depopulation of the historic center, where the cause of that depopulation is identified as short-term rentals, which must be regulated.
Regarding the priorities to be presented to the future municipal administration, Venetians who responded called for quality and proximity to healthcare services, especially for the elderly, and environmental policies, including remediation of Porto Marghera, which could attract new jobs.
The proposal put forward by CGIL to create an Italian hub for artificial intelligence in Porto Marghera received widespread support, because it has the potential to attract new digital professions. As for the first initiative that the future mayor should act on, Venetians responded: a plan for social housing for residents and the redevelopment of abandoned industrial areas, evidently perceived as elements of degradation and an impediment to the development of new forms of employment.
They also called for a plan to regulate rents, which are deemed too high. Finally, the investigation that placed the mayor under investigation and saw one of his councilors arrested was deemed to be a “serious” matter by 90 percent of citizens interviewed.
Regarding the quality of public services, the majority of Venetians are fairly satisfied, giving them an overall positive assessment.
Source: La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre
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