Quinnipiac Poll: Mayor De Blasio's Approval Rating Sinks To New Low
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A new poll is showing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio with the lowest approval rating of his term.
De Blasio has a 41 percent job approval rating in the Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday. That is down from 50 percent in the pollster's last survey in January.
And voters polled say by a 52-37 percent margin that de Blasio, a first-term Democrat, does not deserve re-election.
The poor poll results come after weeks of bad press for de Blasio stemming from several controversies, including a joint federal and state probe into his campaign fundraising activities.
As CBS2's Tony Aiello reported, the next mayoral election is 18 months away. The poll also asked about three prominent elected officials who may challenge de Blasio.
The poll also shows that three potential challengers in the 2017 mayoral race -- City Comptroller Scott Stringer, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. -- are within a few percentage points of the incumbent.
"Heading into his re-election year, Mayor Bill de Blasio is not in good political shape," said Quinnipiac University Poll Assistant Director Maurice Carroll. "The three possible challengers we matched up against de Blasio... are all little known, but all three are close."
Forty-one percent of those polled said de Blasio has strong leadership qualities, while 53 percent said he does not. The poll also found that while 43 percent said the mayor is honest and trustworthy, 45 percent said he is not.
"Even on the personal traits – leadership, empathy and honesty – the mayor's numbers are negative. The same on issues – crime, schools, the police, the budget – it's thumbs down," Carroll said.
Click here to see the full poll results.
"The one thing less reliable than the weather is a poll," said de Blasio's press secretary Karen Hinton. "The mayor will be judged by results, the only real measure of success. Crime is down; affordable housing is being built; and more and more children are attending pre-K. At the end of the day, voters care about what their elected officials are achieving for them."
The poll of 1,038 voters has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
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