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Quinnipiac Poll: New Yorkers Do Not Support Many Of De Blasio's Key Policies

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Two months into his administration Mayor Bill de Blasio finds himself at odds with New Yorkers on a whole host of issues -- from education to horse-drawn carriages.

Some people wake up on the wrong side of the bed, but de Blasio apparently woke on the wrong side of most of his constituents, CBS 2's Marcia Kramer reported Wednesday.

"We're going to move quickly and aggressively to make horse carriages no longer a part of the landscape. They're not humane," de Blasio said back on Dec. 30.

Banning carriage horses was a key plank in the mayor's platform, but New Yorker have given a resounding "no" to that idea.

According to a new Quinnipiac University poll, 64 percent say keep the horse carriages, while just 24 percent say ban them.

New Yorkers also don't see eye to eye with the mayor on charter schools. He wants to limit them and make those that survive pay rent so he can focus on making public schools better.

But according to the poll, 40 percent want more charter schools, 39 percent say keep the same number, and only 14 percent want them cut.

And as for the rent issue, 47 percent say "no" to the idea, while 44 percent say "yes." However, when you ask public school parents the same question, 54 percent say no rent, while 40 percent say charge a fee.

The mayor does get high marks on his signature issue, universal pre-kindergarten, as 86 percent of city voters say it's a very effective program.

Where they part ways with the mayor is how to fund it.

* 54 percent support Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan to pay for it using existing state funds

* 35 percent support Mayor de Blasio's plan to tax the rich

Team de Blasio did respond to the poll, finding fault in how it was conducted, Kramer reported.

On horse carriages, for example, Team de Blasio said the pollsters didn't ask people what they thought about replacing horses with vintage cars.

On charters, they pointed out the mayor approved 14 of 17 new proposals, and that New Yorkers have been unfairly influenced by a multi-million dollar ad campaign by pro-charter groups.

But despite the poll findings that suggest New Yorkers aren't on the same page with the mayor, you have to give de Blasio credit for the pre-K program. Without the unstinting support for the idea who knows if Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature would have given the city money for universal pre-K and badly needed after-school programs. Kramer reported.

The Quinnipiac poll has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.

It comes a day after another Quinnipiac poll found that 44 percent of voters approve of de Blasio's job performance, while 34 percent disapprove.

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