By Courtney Dentch
Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s approval rating inched up after hitting an all-time low several months ago, but Queens residents are still critical of Bloomberg’s handling of the city budget, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released last week.
The mayor’s approval sank to 41 percent in November, but a new poll shows 48 percent of New Yorkers approve of the job he is doing. In Queens, however, he scored a slightly lower 46 percent approval rating, according to the poll released Feb. 26.
“Mayor Bloomberg’s job approval is creeping up out of the cellar, where we found it when the mayor was in the middle of raising taxes,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
The mayor’s popularity dropped to a personal all-time low in November, when he was pushing for a 25 percent hike in property taxes to offset the city’s projected $6.4 billion deficit. Bloomberg reached a compromise with the City Council, which passed an 18.5 percent increase.
More than 60 percent of Queens voters disapprove of the way Bloomberg is handling taxes, a slight increase over the 59 percent of New Yorkers who disapprove of his tax policies, the Quinnipiac poll found. The majority of city residents would raise sales tax rather than the property tax, with only 21 percent of Queens residents saying they would choose to increase the real estate tax to balance the budget, according to the poll.
But 70 percent of borough voters and 73 percent of city residents agree with Bloomberg’s policy on the commuter tax, which would charge employees who work in New York City income tax based on where they work rather than where they live. The mayor’s proposal has met with fierce opposition from state lawmakers.
“There’s no surprise that three quarters of New York City voters want their suburban cousins to help pay the city’s bills,” Carroll said.
The largest difference between city and borough voters came through in responses to a question on Bloomberg’s proposal to put tolls on the East River crossings to bring in $200 million in city revenue. About 72 percent of Queens voters said it was a bad idea, while 65 percent of city residents rejected the tolls, the Quinnipiac poll reported.
“People from Brooklyn and Queens don’t pay to cross the street,” Carroll said. “Why, New Yorkers ask, should they pay to cross the river.”
The poll was based on responses from 889 registered voters in New York City, 232 of whom are registered in Queens. The margin of error was 3.3 percentage points for citywide results and 6.4 percentage points for Queens results.
Reach reporter Courtney Dentch by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com, or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
