Poll Shows Conflicting Data For Support For De Blasio's Reelection Bid
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The next New York City mayoral election is still a year away, but the first major poll was released on Wednesday.
As CBS2's Dick Brennan reported, the Quinnipiac poll had some very interesting and sometimes conflicting findings. For one thing, New Yorkers don't think de Blasio deserves reelection – but he still holds up well against his potential challengers.
With the close of the presidential race, de Blasio was off and running this week, for reelection. He even picked up a very early endorsement from the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association.
The new Quinnipiac poll shows de Blasio's approval rating is up to 47 percent, with 47 disapproving -- his best score since January. But that isn't pure good news.
When voters are asked if the Mayor deserves re-election, New Yorkers reply with a resounding no -- and that by a clear margin of 49 to 39 percent.
Maurice Carroll of the Quinnipiac poll said contradictions in polling are not unusual.
"It doesn't make any sense," Carroll said. "You know, you can't ask people in a poll to be consistent, and so they're not."
In a hypothetical five-way Democratic primary, de Blasio gets 34 percent – easily topping his 2013 rival, former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who gets 15 percent.
City Comptroller Scott Stringer, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams get 9 percent, 7 percent and 6 percent, respectively.
Carroll said de Blasio faces an electoral racial divide.
"He's very, very popular in the black community, and not popular in the white community, so overall just about a standoff, in numbers, but there's not a way he could lose a Democratic primary of the black community comes pouring out for him," de Blasio said.
But then again, the story is different if Quinn challenges de Blasio as an independent in a head-to-head general election. DeBlasio then leads by only 41 to 35 percent.
There are also other factors.
Billionaire Republican John Catsimatidis told CBS2 Political Reporter Marcia Kramer that he is thinking seriously about running again for mayor -- this time as a fusion candidate. He ran as a Republican in 2013 and lost to former Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Joe Lhota.
"There are a lot of people that are mad at the way things have been going. And like Donald Trump, the people that opened up their windows and they yelled like in the movies, 'We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore!'" Catsimatidis said.
The Quinnipiac poll did not include Catsimatidis, or former Bloomberg aide Kevin Sheekey, who also might run. Others may also enter the race, as the filing deadline is not until next June.
