De Blasio’s Approval Rate Steady, Disapproval Soars

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s popularity continues to fall in the wake of several bruising political battles, a new Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday shows.

While 44 percent of registered city voters approved of de Blasio’s job performance, a number that held steady from the Quinnipiac’s previous poll, conducted in May, the percentage of New Yorkers who disapproved ticked up from 40 percent to 44 percent. This leaves de Blasio with his lowest net approval rating since he took office in January 2014.

Moreover, New Yorkers who responded to the poll believe by a margin of 47 percent to 41 percent that de Blasio doesn’t deserve re-election in 2017.

Mayoral aides downplayed the poll, stressing that de Blasio was recently targeted in a multi-million dollar negative ad campaign funded by the ride-sharing service Uber. They also noted that his approval rating rebounded after taking a dip after some charter school allies unleashed a similar ad campaign a year ago.

“This is a mayor who focuses on the fundamentals New Yorkers care about, not political chatter,” said spokesman Wiley Norvell, who touted a drop in overall crime and an uptick in job creation.

But City Hall’s battle with Uber is not de Blasio’s only recent brawl with a powerful foe. He and Gov. Andrew Cuomo waged a war of words after de Blasio criticized the governor for not helping the city achieve more of its agenda during Albany’s legislative session. And de Blasio was widely portrayed as having done an 11th hour about-face after authorizing the hiring of 1,300 more police officers after first balking at that budget request for months.

De Blasio’s approval rating is holding strong, mainly due to his popularity among blacks, Latinos and registered Democrats. This suggests solid support from the constituencies he most needs to gain a second term in two and a half years.

Meanwhile, Cuomo enjoyed a 58 percent job approval rating while 36 percent disapproved. More voters suggested that they felt that Cuomo better understood the needs and problems of New York City than its mayor.

This article appeared in print on page 4 of the August 7th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.