NY TIMES
Mayor Bill de Blasio has stumbled to the worst net approval rating of his tenure, according to a poll released on Wednesday, placing his popularity with New York City voters well behind that of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo — his counterpart in a protracted municipal feud.
Forty-four percent of voters approve of the mayor’s performance, according to the survey by Quinnipiac University. The same share of voters disapproves.
With the mayor’s re-election bid more than two years away, 47 percent of voters say Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, does not deserve to stay in office; 41 percent say he does. (A majority of Democrats, though, support his re-election, 53 percent to 35 percent.)
A stark racial divide in Mr. de Blasio’s numbers, long a hallmark of his polling, remains. Sixty-four percent of black voters approve of his work, according to the poll. A majority of white voters, 59 percent, disapprove.
Mr. de Blasio has encountered a series of difficulties in recent months, including the tussle with Mr. Cuomo, also a Democrat, over a disappointing legislative session in Albany, and distressing headlines about a rising murder rate — even as city officials have noted that overall crime continues to fall.
The mayor was also recently the subject of negative ads from the car-hailing company Uber, which opposed a proposed cap on its growth that the mayor had promoted. (The city has, for now, backed away from the proposal.)
Administration officials were quick to connect the increase in disapproving voters — a four-point uptick since May — to the Uber campaign, noting that the mayor’s numbers also suffered for a time last year during a public dispute with advocates of charter schools.
Aides also highlighted unfavorable polls for Michael R. Bloomberg at a similar point in his first term as mayor. In July 2003, 31 percent of voters approved of his stewardship of the city; 60 percent disapproved. (At the time, Mr. Bloomberg, a Republican who later became a political independent, had drawn the ire of many voters for championing antismoking legislation and for deciding to raise property taxes.)