NYC Mayor Bloomberg Making Progress in Connecting With the Big Apple

[Frodo]

Poll Finds Gain for Mayor, but a Long Way to Go
By JIM RUTENBERG and MARJORIE CONNELLY

Published: February 16, 2005

After three years of trying to connect with New Yorkers, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg appears to be making some progress. A New York Times poll made public yesterday shows a steady rise in his favorability ratings as he begins his run for a second term.

The poll suggests that the mayor still has a long way to go, particularly in how people view his stewardship of the city, since it shows about as many New Yorkers disapproving of how he is handling his job as mayor as approve of it.

But New Yorkers, who have shown a recent preference for mayors with outsize personalities like Edward I. Koch and Rudolph W. Giuliani, appear to be warming finally to Mr. Bloomberg, who has worked to shed a common impression of him as a technocratic billionaire out of touch with the voters. The new poll shows that 41 percent of registered voters now view him favorably, a jump from 31 percent last summer.

Perhaps just as important for the mayor, most of those polled have yet to form opinions, favorable or unfavorable, of his Democratic opponents. That presents a singular opportunity for Mr. Bloomberg, who has tens of millions of dollars to spend in shaping both his own image and the perceptions of his opponents in this year's mayoral race.

The mayor is starting his campaign in earnest, and last night he had a party for his volunteers at the B. B. King Blues Club. Yet to come is an expected blitz of television, radio and Internet commercials promoting Mr. Bloomberg, who spent more than $75 million on his last campaign.

The citywide poll, of 1,014 adults, was conducted by telephone between Feb. 4 and Sunday and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Of the total, 780 people said they were registered to vote. Those results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/16/nyregion/16york.html?hp&ex=1108616400&en=c005a0eec8059d7f&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Erc]

My congratulations to Mr. Bloomberg.  I had assumed that, with his popularity ratings in the 20's, that he was dead in the water.

[they don't love you like i love you]

41% is still pretty damn low, and much lower than a Republican in NYC wants to be. I'm still betting on him losing.

[YRABNNRM]

41% is still pretty damn low, and much lower than a Republican in NYC wants to be. I'm still betting on him losing.

Yea and the fact that he'll probably have a Conservative Party opponent won't help him.

[dazzleman]

I hope he wins, not because I love him, but because the Democrats in New York city are a particularly noxious and deadly strain of a bad disease.

A Democrat would never have the 'nads to keep up the fight against crime, because they have to rely on a constituency that prefers high crime over aggressive policing.

If a Democrat wins, you will start to see crime steadily climb.  That is one thing Bloomberg has done to continue the Giuliani legacy - he has kept the crime rate going down.  For that reason alone, he deserves re-election.

He has also taken on the hopeless job of trying to improve public education in the city.  The best that can be hoped for is minor improvements on the margins, but at least he is willing to try.

[Keystone Phil]

I hope he wins, not because I love him, but because the Democrats in New York city are a particularly noxious and deadly strain of a bad disease.

A Democrat would never have the 'nads to keep up the fight against crime, because they have to rely on a constituency that prefers high crime over aggressive policing.

If a Democrat wins, you will start to see crime steadily climb.  That is one thing Bloomberg has done to continue the Giuliani legacy - he has kept the crime rate going down.  For that reason alone, he deserves re-election.

He has also taken on the hopeless job of trying to improve public education in the city.  The best that can be hoped for is minor improvements on the margins, but at least he is willing to try.

Bloomberg annoys me so much that I have seriously said that I hope the Democrat beats him. I just really can't stand the guy. However, I remember you telling me in the past that he needs to win because NY Dems are worse (which is probably true). I just hope you're right. I guess I'll favor seeing him re-elected over what the opposition offers but I will, in no way, be happy for Bloomberg.

[KEmperor]

Kind of a rock and a hard place situation.

[dazzleman]

I hope he wins, not because I love him, but because the Democrats in New York city are a particularly noxious and deadly strain of a bad disease.

A Democrat would never have the 'nads to keep up the fight against crime, because they have to rely on a constituency that prefers high crime over aggressive policing.

If a Democrat wins, you will start to see crime steadily climb.  That is one thing Bloomberg has done to continue the Giuliani legacy - he has kept the crime rate going down.  For that reason alone, he deserves re-election.

He has also taken on the hopeless job of trying to improve public education in the city.  The best that can be hoped for is minor improvements on the margins, but at least he is willing to try.

Bloomberg annoys me so much that I have seriously said that I hope the Democrat beats him. I just really can't stand the guy. However, I remember you telling me in the past that he needs to win because NY Dems are worse (which is probably true). I just hope you're right. I guess I'll favor seeing him re-elected over what the opposition offers but I will, in no way, be happy for Bloomberg.

You have no idea how bad the opposition is.  I don't love Bloomberg either, but I still want him to win.  The alternative is so much worse.  You should hear and see some of the people who want to run against Bloomberg.  They would probably be somewhat equivalent to Street in Philadelphia.

[dazzleman]

Kind of a rock and a hard place situation.

Given the quality of the New York City voters, and their limited reasoning ability, Bloomberg is the absolute best you can hope for, unfortunately.

Giuliani was elected because things were so bad under the Democrats that enough people finally saw that things couldn't continue that way.  Now that Giuliani cleaned things up quite a bit, and Bloomberg has basically maintained that, many people tend to want to slip back to the hare-brained liberal policies that brought them to grief earlier.  They have forgotten how bad the results of those programs were.

People get the government they deserve, and if NYC voters elect somebody like Ferrer or Gifford, then they'll deserve the terrible results they get.  Then you'll see renewed support for secession from the city by Staten Island, which only cooled down when Giuliani was elected.  It was Staten Island that provided Giuliani with his margin of victory in 1993.

[Hitchabrut]

Which counties / boroughs did Bloomberg win and which did Green win in 2001?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Given the quality of the New York City voters, and their limited reasoning ability, Bloomberg is the absolute best you can hope for, unfortunately.

Their limited reasoning? WTF? They voted strongly against Bush, which shows that they have a lot more reasoning than most of the country.

[Frodo]

does anyone (and i am referring mainly to Democrats here) know of any front-runners among the Democrats running against Michael Bloomberg?  is there anyone whom you think will have the best chance of unseating him? 

[dazzleman]

Given the quality of the New York City voters, and their limited reasoning ability, Bloomberg is the absolute best you can hope for, unfortunately.

Their limited reasoning? WTF? They voted strongly against Bush, which shows that they have a lot more reasoning than most of the country.

You obviously don't know much about New York....

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Given the quality of the New York City voters, and their limited reasoning ability, Bloomberg is the absolute best you can hope for, unfortunately.

Their limited reasoning? WTF? They voted strongly against Bush, which shows that they have a lot more reasoning than most of the country.

You obviously don't know much about New York....

Yes, I do, and as a party that elected Bush, I wouldn't be saying anything.

[YRABNNRM]

Given the quality of the New York City voters, and their limited reasoning ability, Bloomberg is the absolute best you can hope for, unfortunately.

Their limited reasoning? WTF? They voted strongly against Bush, which shows that they have a lot more reasoning than most of the country.

You obviously don't know much about New York....

Yes, I do, and as a party that elected Bush, I wouldn't be saying anything.

Your rhetoric gets weaker and weaker...

[Defarge]

I supported Bloomberg in 2001 and I'm supporting him this time around.  He's a man who took over at honestly the worst possible time, with Rudy's impossible shoes to fill, an economy going sour, and no money in the city's treasury.

[patrick1]

I hate Bloomberg and would not support him no matter who the opposition.

[Erc]

I don't live in NYC, so I don't get to vote.

Thank goodness he didn't get the commuter tax through when he was talking about it in 2002...