* This poll didn’t just “pop up.” I told subscribers about it yesterday…

A memo popped up Monday reminding that Mayor Lori Lightfoot is popular, no matter what the critics (media) might say about the challenges she faces maneuvering in Springfield.

The memo, though, is dated Aug. 30. It details a poll conducted Aug. 19-22 that shows Lighfoot was seen favorably at the time by 61 percent of 800 likely 2020 voters. And 77 percent at the time considered her “an honest person.”

“The public’s impressions of Lightfoot are better now than they have been at any time since we began polling her standing back in May of 2018,” the poll memo states.

“The data speaks for itself,” adds Jason McGrath, VP at GBAO and chief pollster for Lightfoot. He also wrote the memo. “Nearly eight of 10 people think she’s doing a good job. She’s still seen as an antidote to the status quo and voters seem to have more optimism about the direction of the city,” he told Playbook.

The story quickly glosses over the main take-away. Yes, she’s very popular, and yes, pols of every stripe need to keep that in mind. But according to this poll, Lightfoot’s election produced a fundamental change in the way Chicagoans view their city…

You just don’t see right track/wrong track numbers completely flip like that every day. Chicagoans appear to believe they’ve given their city a chance to succeed by overwhelmingly electing Lightfoot.

I do not know how long that attitude will last once she finally starts tackling tough issues with potentially unpopular solutions, but I do know I’d much rather start from her position than the jaded, cynical alternative.