Siena Poll: Mayor De Blasio Less Popular In Democrat-Dominant New York Than President Trump
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It's a reverse beauty contest, a competition for most unpopular politician in New York state of any party.
Who won? Or rather, who lost?
CBS2's Marcia Kramer has the answer.
"I run the biggest, toughest, most diverse city in the world. I have 8.6 million highly opinionated constituents. All of them have an opinion," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Sunday on the campaign trail in Iowa.
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That was de Blasio's stump speech, which, conveniently, left out one key point. His constituents' opinion of his White House run is frequently downright unflattering. Some say bamboozle national voters all you want, Mr. Mayor, but the people who know you best don't want you anywhere near the nuclear football.
When asked how they feel about de Blasio running for president, the answers were telling.
"Oh, I can't stand Bill de Blasio," one New Yorker said.
"Maybe he should find something else to do," another said.
"I don't think he's ready for it," another said.
"Bill de Blasio should do a better job of being mayor before he runs for president," another added.
And while de Blasio has been spending every weekend in a, so far, fruitless campaign to get more than 0 percent in the polls, there is one poll he's apparently winning.
In the competition for most unpopular politician in New York, he's a front runner. Even Donald Trump fares a tad better.
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De Blasio scores a favorability rating of just 29 percent, according to a Siena College research poll among New York registered voters. Trump got 34 percent.
To be fair, Trump's unfavorable rating in heavily Democratic New York was higher -- 63 percent to 53 percent for de Blasio.
But taking favorable and unfavorable together, the two New Yorkers seem to be neck and neck -- de Blasio at minus-24, Trump at minus-29.
That raises an interesting question for de Blasio.
Kramer asked political pundit Hank Sheinkopf how somebody runs for president and tries to convince voters in Iowa or Nevada to vote form them when the voters in their home state don't like them.
"This is the capital, New York City, of anti-Trump sentiment probably in the country. The fact that they like Trump more than like de Blasio should tell Bill de Blasio something," Sheinkopf said.
"I think he's very courageous, because nobody likes him that I know," New Yorker Zelda Jacobs said, clarifying when asked again, "That I know."
It's also crunch time for de Blasio as he seeks to be included in the first presidential debate at at the end of the month. The deadline is Wednesday and the mayor has to score at least 1 percent in three national polls and get donations from 65,000 people.
