A Quinnipiac University poll released today found that NYC voters disapprove of the way Mayor Bloomberg has handled the Occupy Wall Street protests, by a margin of 51 - 42 percent. About 50 percent of voters approve of the way the NYPD has handled the protests, with 45 percent disapproving (and 5 percent unsure). But when asked about overall NYPD performance—particularly Commissioner Ray Kelly—voters expressed satisfaction! 66 percent of those polled said they approved of Kelly's work (with the highest response coming from independent voters, at 71 percent). Ray Kelly 2013? Some more interesting findings: more ›

Recently, Gov. Cuomo has made several overtures to constituents that he would try to bring gay marriage to the State Senate for a vote this year. According to the latest Quinnipiac poll, he'll have a lot of support if he plans on doing so: a record 56 percent of New Yorkers believe same sex couples should be legally allowed to marriage. Could the nearly-universal support for gay cat marriage have something to do with it? more ›

A new Quinnipiac poll shows that Mayor Bloomberg is leading the mayoral race, with 53% of likely voters picking him, while challenger Comptroller Bill Thompson gets 35% of likely voters. PolitickerNY reports, "A two-term incumbent just barely over 50 percent would normally have lots to worry about, if he were being challenged by someone who had convinced the public there was an electable alternative. Thompson, unable to crack 40 percent in public opinion polls, does not seem to have made that case effectively." Now the word "blowout" is being mentioned. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg's expansive and record-spending campaign for a third term must be doing its job effectively with the latest poll showing his lead expanding—but damn it if it isn't driving New Yorkers c-razy! The latest Quinnipiac poll shows that 78 percent of New Yorkers have seen the mayor's ads (20% more than last month!), but almost half find them to be "annoying," more than those who see them as "informative." Today's Times has a front page article about Bloomberg's reelection bid being "most meticulous campaign in New York City’s history." The paper goes inside headquarters to find workers "condensing and cataloging (voters) into tiny data points" with workers on hand who speak Farsi and Tagalog among the many languages they cover. Also: "His field team is so persistent that, when volunteers call to solicit voters’ support, some report that they have already been called by the campaign — three times." Despite a Quinnipiac pollster saying "Mayor Mike might be wasting his money on that zillion-dollar TV buy," Bloomberg stretched his lead over Bill Thompson to 50-35%, a five point gain from last month. Maybe people secretly love picturing a Mr. Feeny-like Bloomberg as he's depicted in the spot after the jump. more ›

Governor Paterson's prospects at getting elected next year continue to dwindle as the latest poll shows Andrew Cuomo running away with a head-to-head match-up in a landslide. The newest Quinnipiac poll shows Cuomo trouncing the governor by a margin of 61-15% among registered Democrats. Paterson may have hoped to see some gains after a month which he took a hard-line stance against the chaos in the state senate and appointed Richard Ravitch as lieutenant governor despite objections to the move's legality. But his poll numbers continue to move the same direction they have throughout all of '09, with only 26% of New Yorkers saying they have a favorable view of the governor. As for Cuomo, he extended his lead in a hypothetical race against Rudy Giuliani to 48-39%—Giuliani has already began showing signs of shying away from a run, something that seems even less likely if Paterson is pushed aside. The governor continues to watch even the black vote slip away from him—with Cuomo now showing a 20 point lead among African-Americans. One prominent Democrat told the News, "I don't know how (Paterson) can run." more ›

Polllsters at Quinnipiac checked in with New Yorkers on some quality of life issues that have been in the news lately. A couple months into the Broadway pedestrian mall experiment, city residents are still supportive of the mayor's initiative—though they like it best from a distance. The mayor seems to generally be in good shape on the issues asked about—New Yorkers stood behind him on control of the schools as well. The city's real enemy, not surprisingly, is the MTA. Here are some of the results from the poll taken last week: more ›

New poll numbers released today indicate that Governor Paterson hasn't been able to bounce back in the eyes of voters despite recent moves to introduce gay marriage legislation, push the MTA bailout through legislature and an aggressive stance indicating that he has every intention of running in next year's election. A Quinnipiac poll shows the governor's disapproval rating remaining at over sixty percent (versus 28% approving) statewide and still significantly trailing Andrew Cuomo, including among black voters. Will a Cuomo challenge continue to be presented as alienating to African-Americans if that remains the case? Interestingly, despite Paterson stepping up his early 2010 campaign, over sixty percent of New Yorkers don't believe he will run—almost half also believe that such a run would be "bad for other Democrats." more ›

From making a round of appearances at black churches to taking calls from listeners of KISS-FM, Governor Paterson is doing everything he can to reclaim the support of African-American voters that he appears to be losing. A poll last week saw Paterson's support among blacks drop below 50 percent, a "desperation line" pollsters say. The Times says that the low numbers in minority communities may stem from his controversial proposed health care cuts. But some African-Americans believe that the perception of the governor is being distorted by overwhelmingly negative press and poll numbers. The president of New York's branch of the NAACP told the Times, “I think the polls are not reflecting David’s standing in the community." But City Councilman Charles Barron thinks that the abandoning of Paterson is legitimate. He said, “There is some letdown from people who were so proud of his ascension. People have to realize that when we invest our aspirations in you, we expect more. We expect better.” more ›

Every time Governor Paterson hopes that his approval rating has dipped as low it possibly could and will inevitably start turning around, a new poll proves him wrong. The newest Qunnipiac poll released today finds their lowest approval ever for a sitting governor in New York at 28%. That's even a dramatic drop from mid-February when Paterson seemed bombarded with bad press and yet still maintained a 45% approval rating. The manager of the poll summed up its results by saying, "There's nothing good for Paterson in this poll." more ›

A new Quinnipiac poll has more bad news for embattled Governor Paterson. Not only has his approval rating fallen seven points to 41%, if Paterson were to run against Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in the 2010 gubernatorial primary, Cuomo would win, 53-25. Politicker NY runs through some other details: "Rudy Giuliani's favorability rating, however, stands at 56 percent. In a hypothetical matchup for governor, Giuliani ties Paterson 43 to 43. Cuomo would win a race against Giuliani 51 to 37, the poll found." Of course, there's still almost 18 months till the primary—anything can happen. But if Cuomo's appearances are anything like this one, he is eyeing his dad's old job. more ›

It's turns out that a dirty tricks campaign - even if it's not quite criminal - can be pretty damaging. A new Quinnipiac poll shows that Governor Spitzer's approval rating has dropped to a new low of 47%. Of course, that's the low after nine months in office, so there's still room for improvement - or to find a new low. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg may be staunchly denying that he's running for president next year, but given the love New Yorkers seem to have for him, you can't blame him for high hopes. The latest Quinnipiac Poll says Bloomberg's approval rating is at 70%. This is down from his possible all-time approval ratings high of 75% at the start of the year, but it's still very high (back in 2003, his approval rating was around 33%). more ›

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani got good and bad news from the Quinnipiac Poll. The good news: He beats Senator Hillary Clinton, 48% to her 43% in a national poll conducted last week. The bad news: It's still over 18 months to go until Election 2008. more ›

Last night, Senator Hillary Clinton and Republican challenger John Spencer met upstate for their first debate. Aside from the fact that they were actually meeting, it was a fairly mild affair, given Clinton's huge 2-to-1 lead over Spencer. Spencer, a former mayor of Yonkers, did raise the question of Clinton's 2008 ambitions, saying, "You're not president yet, Mrs. Clinton!" when she discussed wanting to remove Donald Rumsfeld. He also questioned Clinton's huge warchest, "She's raised $40 million for herself. To run against me?" (Spencer has less than $500,000). But Clinton said she was committed to being a U.S. Senator for the next six years, which we believe - until she starts showing up in Iowa and New Hampshire more often. more ›

Republican candidates. The AP reports that he was in Cleveland for Senator Mike DeWine last night, and today, he'll be in Arkansas for Asa Hutchinson (running for governor) as well as in Pennsylvania for Senator Rick Santorum and the All-Star Game. Then tomorrow he'll be at fundraisers for Lynn Swann, running for governor of Pennsylvania, and Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich. Yeah, we did the "Ugh, Santorum, really?" too, but apparently Giuliani is keen to support him because of his commitment to national security. Okay, we get that national security is a big issue, but being able to view other Americans as people is a big issue to us. The scuttlebutt is that the fact that Rudy is visiting Arkansas, Ohio and Pennsylvania means that he's strongly considering a presidential run. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg has 52 points to Democratic challenger Fernando Ferrer's 38 points in the latest Quinnipiac Poll. While it's a "likely lead," one political consultant told the NY Post, "If that's [Ferrer's] bounce — uh-oh." Ferrer himself doesn't think these numbers "reflect the new Democratic party unity," as the numbers were mainly from before the primary, as The Politicker noted. Then why release them? Just to show movement next week? Hmm. more ›