After a Hurricane Irene-assisted bump, it seems things are back to normal for the sinking ship that is Bloomberg's disastrous third term. According to a new Quinnipiac University poll, a majority of New Yorkers believe that Bloomberg has "lost focus"—and those same NYers would vote NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly in as mayor were elections held today.
Kelly led six potential rivals with 25 percent, followed by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn at 17 percent and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz at 14 percent. Pollster Maurice Carroll noted that most don't believe Kelly will run for mayor, but the NY Post's heart wants what the NY Post continually suggests it wants. Of course, Capital New York's Azi Paybarah points out it's too early to poll for 2013 (and it's all about name recognition at this point). Also, the poll left out either of the Baldwin brothers, so that seems like a fairly large oversight to us.
As for Bloomberg, the numbers aren't as bad as they seem on first sight: 47 percent to 42 percent still approve of Bloomberg's job as mayor, but 52 percent believe he has completely messed up in his third term: “He’s back in the third-term blahs and slightly more than half of the neighbors think Hizzoner has lost focus,” said Carroll. “But New Yorkers still like Mayor Mike, whether or not they agree with him.”
Stu Loeser, the mayor’s press secretary, suggested to the Times that the mayor’s numbers may have been affected by the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests—but he also pointed out that Bloomberg remains more popular than most elected officials, including President Obama.
Some might point to this decline in popularity-fueled by the controversial smoking ban, the OCD-health initiatives, the budget crises, the Cathie Black calamity, the blizzard cleanup mess-up, the never ending City Time scandal, and the Occupy Wall Street protests—as some sort of karmic justice for seeking a third term. But hey, all Bloomberg needs to do is spend a few million dollars, and people will love him again...won't they?
