Democrat Bill de Blasio wallops Republican Joe Lhota by 49 points in a Friday New York Times/Siena poll on the race for mayor, leading overwhelmingly even on Lhota’s signature campaign issues.
The phenomenal gap is on par with
that had de Blasio, the city’s public advocate, up 50 points over the ex-MTA chief.
“It may be too soon to say the words ‘Mayor de Blasio,’ but it doesn’t appear likely that New Yorkers are going to spend the next four years talking about decisions made by the ‘Lhota Administration,'” said Siena’s Steven Greenberg in a release.
“To paraphrase an old cliché, five weeks is a lifetime in politics. However, it appears that Joe Lhota will likely need all of that time and a dramatic shift in the campaign if he hopes to close the gap.”
De Blasio pulls a 58% favorability rating and 19% negatives, while Lhota’s got a negative 22%-36% rating and 40% of poll respondents had no opinion of him.
The survey showed de Blasio ahead of Lhota with voters among every demographic group except registered Republicans: The Democrat “has a 59-point lead with women and a 35-point lead with men. He has the support of nearly 90% of black voters, nearly 80% of Latinos, and leads among white voters 55% to 33%,” Greenberg said.
Lhota has heavily played up the management experience he gleaned as a former deputy mayor to Rudy Giuliani and the ex-steward of the transit system — but poll respondents picked de Blasio by a 57% to 28% margin when asked which candidate has the ability to manage the city’s complex government.
Another key Lhota selling point — his work at Giuliani’s side to keep the city running in the wake of the 9/11 attacks — also fell flat with voters: By about two to one, those polled said de Blasio would be better at keeping the city safe from a terrorist attack, from crime, and during a natural disaster.
De Blasio was voters’ overwhelming pick to improve public schools, and voters back his proposal to raise taxes on the wealthy to pay for more pre-K slots.
The poll found seven in 10 respondents back the creation of an inspector general to oversee the NYPD, an idea backed by de Blasio and rejected by Lhota.
“And a majority of voters suggested that they want the next mayor to prioritize reducing the gap between rich and poor, a key plank for Mr. de Blasio, rather than to create a climate that would reduce taxes and regulation to sustain job growth, something emphasized by Mr. Lhota,”
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Overall, voters in the NYT/Siena Poll said de Blasio had a better feel for their problems and issues.
De Blasio’s commanding lead came even as voters said they agreed with Lhota that Ray Kelly should remain head of the NYPD, split near evenly on the department’s stop and frisk tactics and voiced support for more charter schools.
The NYT/Siena poll surveyed 700 likely voters from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2 and has an error margin of 3.7 percentage points.