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A new poll shows that New York City voters have high expectations for Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio, who will be sworn into office on New Year’s Day.
Sixty-six percent of voters have high hopes about de Blasio becoming the next mayor, according to the Wall Street Journal/NBC New York/Marist poll. Fourteen percent are content, 11 percent are disappointed, 2 percent say they are angry and 7 percent are unsure.
“Coming off a huge election victory, expectations are sky high for what Bill de Blasio will do for the city as mayor,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “But, not all New Yorkers think that accomplishing his goals will be a slam dunk.”
While 58 percent of voters think de Blasio will change the city for the better, 14 percent said he will make the city worse. Thirteen percent believe he won’t change the city at all, and 15 percent said they are not sure.
The poll also found that there are differences of opinion by race and borough.
Seventy-two percent of African-American voters think de Blasio will improve the city. Sixty-five percent of Latino voters agree, but only 49 percent of white voters believe he will change the city for the better.
Brooklynites have the highest expectations for the new mayor. Sixty-five percent of voters there said de Blasio will improve the city, compared with 63 percent in the Bronx, 56 percent in Manhattan and 51 percent in Queens and Staten Island.
Despite voters’ optimism for de Blasio, the poll also suggests that more voters are unsure about him.
Just before last month’s election, 64 percent of voters thought favorably of de Blasio. That number has dropped to 56 percent. Meanwhile, the number of voters who said that they never heard of or were unsure about de Blasio has grown from 10 percent to 23 percent.
When asked about the incoming mayor’s wife, 46 percent of voters said they have a favorable impression of Chirlane McCray. Forty-five percent of voters, however, said they have either never heard of her or are not sure how to rate her. Eight percent have a negative impression of McCray.
As for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, he leaves office with a 49 percent job approval rating, according to the poll. Fifteen percent said he is doing an excellent job, 34 percent said he is doing a good job, 30 percent said his performance is fair and 17 percent said his performance is poor. Four percent said they are not sure.
The survey was conducted Dec. 16-18 and interviewed 905 adults by phone. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
