Poll: More Than Half Of New Yorkers Don't Think De Blasio Deserves To Be Re-Elected
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork)-- There's more bad news for Mayor Bill de Blasio in the wake of a corruption investigation.
A new poll finds the majority of voters think the scandal is a serious problem that could affect his political future, CBS2's Hazel Sanchez reported.
De Blasio zipped past a press conference on the steps of City Hall Wednesday. It won't be easy to ignore the cloud of alleged corruption in his administration, and the latest polls show that many New Yorkers think he's unethical.
But some of the mayor's closest allies are turning a blind eye to the polls.
"There's a real focus that we have here. And I'm not being distracted by polls," New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said.
The latest Quinnipiac Poll shows 53 percent of New Yorkers disapprove of the way de Blasio is handling political corruption, and 55 percent think he does favors for developers who make contributions to campaigns he's involved in.
"It pushes the agendas that he would like to promote out of the news cycle so that the positive news that the administration would like to promote isn't getting out there. And that's a real problem for someone that's gearing up for a re-election campaign," political analyst David Birdsell said.
Fifty-two percent of voters polled don't believe de Blasio deserves a re-election, opening the door for potential opponents such as public advocate Leticia James. James said she had no comment when asked if she'd consider running.
In a hypothetical race, polls show City Comptroller Scott Stringer and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams would trail de Blasio by just a single percentage point. They chose not to speak on camera about running.
"At this point, it doesn't really say a lot about where the mayor is. And the mayor really has an opportunity to improve his standing in the city of New York," James said.
There's still more than a year before New Yorkers weight in on de Blasio's potential re-election. Political analysts say that's plenty of time to turn the negativity around.
"I think that it's very very likely that he will be primaried. But if you look right now at the most likely challengers for name recognition, they too have a lot of work to do just to make sure New Yorkers know who they are," Birdsell said.
That's one problem de Blasio doesn't have to worry about.
