Posted on 07/10/2005 9:16:50 PM PDT by LdSentinal
Mayor Bloomberg's approval rating is at its highest level since the early, honeymoon days of his mayoralty - giving him comfortable leads over all his Democratic rivals, a new Daily News poll shows. The poll found that 61% of voters now approve of the job the Republican Bloomberg is doing, compared with just 29% who do not, according to the survey.
That's an almost complete reversal of fortune for Bloomberg since mid-2003, when mammoth budget deficits and an 18% property tax increase combined to turn a record two-thirds of New Yorkers against him.
Many said then they'd never vote for him - ever.
But the most recent poll found that if the November election were today, Bloomberg would best Democratic front-runner Fernando Ferrer 50% to 36%.
Other Democrats in the race wouldn't fare any better. Manhattan Borough President Virginia Fields would lose 32% to 53%, while City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and Congressman Anthony Weiner of Queens would trail by a cavernous 22% or more.
Bloomberg, whose approval rating hasn't cracked 60% since the first few months of his term, is riding a crest of support driven by rising school test scores, declining crime and budgets that now include $400 property tax rebates to offset increases of yesteryear, experts said.
His campaign also is spending an estimated $1 million per week on advertising - money his opponents don't have.
"There have been few sour notes for him recently," said Julie Weprin of Blum & Weprin Associates, which conducted the poll for The News.
More recently, Bloomberg's handling of a bias attack in Howard Beach, Queens - in which a white teen allegedly clubbed a black man with a baseball bat - seems to have drawn solid marks.
The poll found that 42% of city residents approved of the mayor's swift denunciation of the attackers, followed by his vow to press for tough punishments. That's more than double the 20% who did not.
More importantly, pollsters said, the mayor's support for his Howard Beach response was spread evenly across whites, blacks and Hispanics.
"Once upon a time in this city, you would have seen very strong racial divisions in a case like that," said Weprin. "The fact that we didn't this time bodes well for Mayor Bloomberg."
Indeed, the poll underscores how thin support is for top contenders Ferrer and Fields, even among Democrats.
While Fields, the only African-American in the race, still holds a commanding lead over Bloomberg among blacks, for instance, more Democrats and Manhattanites would vote for Bloomberg than her in a head-to-head matchup.
Similarly, while Ferrer does well in his home borough of the Bronx and among Latinos, Bloomberg is essentially tied with Ferrer among blacks and Democrats, while whites favor the mayor more than two to one.
"Bloomberg's support is wide and deep," said Weprin, "while his opponents really have very small groups of constituents that they can look to."
Yes he's the ultimate RINO, but he still beats the alternative.
In the immortal words of the Simpsons Ms. Krabopel "He may have been a wiener...But he's OUR wiener."
At least Mark Green isn't running again!
Man, New Yorkers are really, really weird.
Bump
And the Dems have their own Congressman Anthony Weiner. :-)
Yep. Though I hear both due a good job of bringing home the bacon.
Alright, that joke wasn't kosher, eh?
Ok, I'll stop with the New York deli allusions. Although, I really do hope one day the two sides can make peas. Lettuce not cower from the terrorists, but stride forth into our peachy future.
Man, these keep getting worse. I'll stop now.
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