As Mayor Bill de Blasio’s longshot campaign for president moved into its second week, the 23rd Democratic candidate in the field was still expressing confidence that his message is being received well in early voting states he visited over the weekend.
“I got a very good response from people I talked to in Iowa and in South Carolina. And I just had a great experience,” de Blasio told NY1. “And what I’m finding is folks are looking for something new. There’s a lot of candidates, that’s for sure, but I found that a lot of people were struck by what we’ve achieved here in New York.”
A Quinnipiac University national poll for the 2020 election released May 21 paints a far different picture than that of the mayor’s. The survey shows de Blasio with less than 1 percent of Democratic voter support, and he has a favorability rating of just 8 percent, compared to 45 percent who view him negatively and 48 percent who say they just don’t know enough about him.
Among Democratic voters only, de Blasio’s favorability was 14 percent, with 35 percent saying they had an unfavorable opinion of him while 52 percent said they hadn’t heard enough about him.
“It’s not where you start; it’s where you finish,” de Blasio has said repeatedly since announcing his presidential campaign on May 16. Not one person polled picked de Blasio as their preferred candidate. He was the least liked of any Democrat polled.
Quinnipiac surveyed 1,078 voters nationwide, including 454 Democrats. The poll was taken between May 16 to 20.
With a 49 to 39 percent favorability rating, former Vice President Joe Biden is the only presidential contender, Democrat of Republican, with a clear positive score. Biden is the top pick for the party nomination among 35 percent of Democrats or voters leaning Democratic. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has 16 percent and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is at 13 percent, according to the Quinnipiac poll.
On the Republican side, American voters give President Donald Trump a negative 38 to 57 percent approval rating while 52 percent of American voters say they are better off financially today than they were in 2016.
“The nation’s economy is pretty darn good and President Donald Trump’s approval numbers are pretty darn awful,” Quinnipiac University Poll Assistant Director Tim Malloy said. “So what to make of the good news/bad news mashup and how to correct it? For the moment, the disparity leaves the president on shaky re-election ground.”
