Poll: Voters Are "Eh" On Mayor Bloomberg

A NY1/NY Times/Cornell University poll found that while voters think Mayor Bloomberg is fine, they're happy to vote for someone this fall. NY1 reports, "The poll shows that while 60 percent of New Yorkers approve of Bloomberg's job performance, 55 percent say the want "someone else" in City Hall next year."

The NY Times breaks down some highlights (or, for the mayor's re-election team, lowlights):

"With anxiety rising over a difficult economy, few surveyed have a lot of confidence in Mr. Bloomberg’s ability to lead the city out of the recession, a troubling sign for a mayor who cited his financial acumen as the rationale for his undoing of the term limits law that otherwise would have forced him from office.

In addition, some 51 percent say that the city is on the wrong track, while 40 percent say it is going in the right direction.

And though Mr. Bloomberg has sought to elevate his image nationally and internationally as a bold-thinking mayor with a record of innovation and results, New Yorkers in the survey struggle when asked to identify any particular achievement of his tenure. More than a third of those polled could not offer any answer when asked what was the best thing Mr. Bloomberg has done since he became mayor almost eight years ago."

Ouch! One Democrat who lives in Queens told the Times, "Bloomberg was supposed to be not just another politician but a businessman and smarter on the economy than anyone else. That’s why we elected him, because he was different. But he wasn’t different."

You can see results of the poll here. Notably, many respondents think term limits are a good idea (and disapprove of the extension) and nearly 75% of voters polled don't know anything about Bloomberg's expected opponent, City Comptroller William Thompson. Still, the Times points out that Bloomberg has a lot of money in his campaign war chest.