New York, NY – Less than 18 months after he won a third term in part by arguing the city needed his financial expertise, more than half of New York City voters disapprove of how Mayor Michael Bloomberg is handling the city’s budget, according to a poll released Thursday.
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After a tense budget season in which Bloomberg has said he’s being forced to cut city services and drop more than 6,000 teachers from the payroll, the Marist College/NY1 poll found that 56 percent of voters don’t like his handling of the budget and 65 percent are displeased with his treatment of public schools.
“Very bad grades on those two very critical issues,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, who called the budget Bloomberg’s “calling card.” For the mayor, he said, “There’s some battle scars. He spent a lot of political capital getting to the third term.”
In response to the poll results, the mayor’s spokesman Stu Loeser said, “The mayor continues to make tough choices in a difficult time, which is what he was elected to do.”
After a slight upward tick in his ratings last month, the mayor’s job approval fell again, with 40 percent saying he’s doing an excellent or good job and 59 characterizing his performance as fair or poor.
The numbers were close to Bloomberg’s ratings in early January, following a public outcry over his administration’s performance during a day-after-Christmas blizzard that brought much of the city to a grinding halt. Then, the poll found only 37 percent of voters saying he did an excellent or good job — his lowest ratings ever.
The billionaire mayor has been reaching into his own deep pockets to defend his performance in an effort his administration says is targeted at state lawmakers. He launched upward of $500,000 in campaign-style television ads on March 23 and in the last few days New Yorkers have been receiving mailers laying the blame for budget cuts on Albany and proclaiming: “Mike Bloomberg — Independence For Us.”
Bloomberg has defended his performance on both education and finances, saying that the city has poured money into the schools but has been unable to keep pace with state and federal cutbacks. The mayor argues he used financial restraint in boom times, and those savings have prevented even deeper city cuts.
The telephone poll surveyed 605 registered voters between March 22 and March 24. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The mayor continues to make tough choices? Really, like what?
Did he cancel the Million Tree Planting still running at an installation cost of over $1,000.?
Did he cancel non-essential services like cutting contracts for new construction in City Parks? Or “pedestrian islands”?
He has not done a good job with city finances. He’s wasted an incredible amount on ineffective, high priced consultants for years. The CityTime scandal is but one example of this. The schools are in a disarray. He selected a completely inexperienced and uneducated (in terms of pedagogy) chancellor and had to hire another person to “hold her hand.” His “school reforms” are based on fuzzy math and fudged statistics. I could go on ad nauseam…Now, he’s trying to save face. Really, Mr. Bloomberg, it’s an outrage that you are even in office.
#2 the outrage is that enough NYC voters put him back into office. The outrage is that in America, those with enough money to spend on great self promotion can buy almost any election.
Your post is right on target. The man has his own agenda and everything else and everyone else can go to hell. His priorities are that of a businessman which has worked very well for him in the private sector, but not always good for the masses as our Mayor.