We agree with most pundits about the most recent Quinnipiac poll on Mayor de Blasio?s approval rating:? it?s much too early.? According to the poll?more than 1200 New Yorkers were questioned?the mayor?s approval rating has dipped precipitously to 47 percent since January when he polled 53 percent.?
But even his most ardent critics appear willing to cut him slack given the unusually bad weather, particularly the heavy accumulation of snow, the charter school fiasco, and his imbroglio with Gov. Cuomo over the financing of pre-K.
These are certainly distracting circumstances but the most salient point in his defense is the time factor.? He hasn?t been in office long enough to get a good reading on his performance, on anything else.
And the same can be said for his breast beating about the reduction of crime since he took charge of the city and brought in William Bratton as the new police commissioner.? Two months at the helm is hardly enough clock or calendar to enter a judgment about whether he?s doing a good or bad job.
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On the contrary, Bratton polled higher numbers than his boss, registering a 57 percent approval rating.? And City Comptroller received a 53 percent approval rating and that will problem ratchet up a few ticks on the heels of his appointment of the first Chief Diversity Officer.
Of course, de Blasio has scored some points and while the poll may reflect the same percentage of those who favored him keeping the schools open during the deluge of snow, some of those poll perhaps gave little consideration for the various appointments he has made, his resolve to tax the rich to provide for pre-K, and his unwilling to kowtow to Eva Moskowitz?s charter school crusade.
We believe it is unfair to judge the mayor coming out of the starting blocks.? Let?s allow him to run a few laps before voicing our disapproval.?
Sure, Bloomberg had a higher approval rating over the same period in 2002, but the dust had not completely settled from 9/11 and many of those polled were probably still in a recovery mode from the devastation.
The mayor is now reeling from the East Harlem explosion, and his response to it was admirable and compassionate but let?s see what measures he takes to improve the city?s infrastructure that is old, dilapidated, and everywhere on the verge of total collapse.
The Knicks on the brink of elimination from the playoffs, despite the arrival of the Zen master; March madness is officially underway; and pretty soon spring will come creeping over our windowsill.
Mayor de Blasio?s heart, we feel, is definitely in the right place, and he?s in the right place to bring about all the populist changes he promised.? As we have said on other occasions, we got your back but you got to give it back, Bill.
Let?s see how the polls?which we always take with a grain of salt?will weigh him three months from now.? There?s a good chance it will be a different story, with a higher rating for the mayor.?? And the prophecy of that is foretold by some of the polled this time indicating their optimism for his four years in office.
