N.Y. TIMES
Nearly half of New Yorkers approve of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s job performance so far in City Hall, and his high-profile effort to provide free prekindergarten has attracted wide support, according to a poll conducted by The New York Times, NY1 and Siena College.
Fully half of respondents said they disapproved of Mr. de Blasio’s efforts to address income inequality, and 52 percent said they were dissatisfied with his work on making it easier for New Yorkers to find affordable housing, another major priority for his mayoralty.
Patience is not a typical New York virtue, but the poll showed that residents were generally willing to cut the new mayor some slack.
Forty-nine percent of New Yorkers approved of his job performance, while 31 percent disapproved, figures roughly in line with those of New York’s last two mayors during the early months of their first terms.
By comparison, in Michael R. Bloomberg’s last month as mayor, 53 percent of New Yorkers approved of his job performance, while 35 percent disapproved.
Still, the new mayor is viewed as a more empathetic leader than his predecessor: Thirty percent of residents polled said Mr. de Blasio cared a lot about their problems and needs, a larger percentage than Mr. Bloomberg, a billionaire, received when the question was asked at various times throughout his tenure.
New Yorkers are pleased with several of Mr. de Blasio’s marquee initiatives: Nearly three-quarters of those polled said they approved of the mayor’s initiatives to provide prekindergarten and to require employers to provide sick workers with paid days off.
There is more skepticism about his ability to fulfill broader goals, like expanding employment and closing the gap between the rich and the poor.
Loftier plans aside, Mr. de Blasio, an inexperienced manager, received good marks on his ability to keep the city clean and safe. A majority said they approved of the mayor’s handling of the Police Department, and 62 percent said they approved of the city’s performance in snow removal.
There is also a racial divide in how Mr. de Blasio has been perceived.
More whites, 45 percent, disapproved of the mayor’s job performance than the 38 percent who approved, compared with majorities of blacks and Hispanics who approved of how he was doing his job.
And asked if it was a mistake to elect Mr. de Blasio, nearly a quarter of white residents said that it was, compared with 6 percent of blacks and 9 percent of Hispanics.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a fellow Democrat who repeatedly outmaneuvered Mr. de Blasio during this year’s budget negotiations in Albany, has a 64 percent job approval rating in the city, 15 points higher than the mayor’s, the poll found.