A majority of New York City residents rated Mayor Bill de Blasio positively in a new survey conducted largely before the shooting of two NYPD officers this weekend that put de Blasio in the national spotlight.
The survey, conducted by Quinnipiac University, showed 53% of city residents viewed him favorably, while 33% viewed him unfavorably and another 10% say they haven’t heard enough about him to decide.
The mayor is underwater statewide, however, with 36% of New York state residents viewing him unfavorably, while 33% have a favorable view and another 29% say they haven’t heard enough to decide.
The survey was conducted from Dec. 17-21, partly before the Saturday shootings of two police officers in their patrol car in Brooklyn. The incident has inflamed already strained tensions between the mayor and the city’s police force, and complicated a nationwide debate surrounding law enforcement tactics and treatment of minorities.
De Blasio has taken center stage in the aftermath of the shootings, calling on Monday for unity and a hiatus from the protests that have gripped the city in recent weeks following the killings of two unarmed African American men at the hands of white police officers.
But the Quinnipiac poll showed that through Sunday New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, also a Democrat, was widely seen as the more influential of the two in the state, with three-fourths of respondents rating him as such.
More than half of the state view Cuomo favorably, while a third view him unfavorably.
New York Sen. Charles Schumer, who is up for reelection this cycle, is also widely popular, with 62% of the state’s voters viewing him favorably.
And looking towards the 2016 presidential contest, the state’s former Democratic senator, Hillary Clinton, is still a strong favorite to win if she jumps in the race, as most expect.
She leads Jeb Bush, the former GOP governor of Florida; Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie by anywhere from 26 points with Christie to 35 points with Paul.
The survey was conducted among 1,293 New York state voters via landline and cell phone, and has a margin of error of 2.7 percent overall.
