By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CITY HALL — Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s approval rating has fallen below 50 percent for the first time since 2005, according to a new survey.
The Marist Poll found that just 49 percent of New Yorkers think Bloomberg is doing a good or excellent job in office, down from 56 percent in April. Bloomberg's approval rating last dipped below 50 percent in June 2005, according to Marist.
“Chief executives often find third terms difficult, and the current economic climate is not making it any easier for Bloomberg,” Lee M. Miringoff, director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, said in a statement. “Right now, New York City voters are divided about the job the mayor is doing.”
Thirty-three percent of New York voters think Bloomberg is doing a fair job, 16 percent said he is doing poorly and two percent were uncertain.
Manhattan voters were the most supportive of Bloomberg, with 56 percent saying he is doing a good or excellent job. But that’s still less than the 62 percent who approved of him back in April.
Support for Bloomberg held steady among Republicans over the past few months but dropped among Democrats and unaffiliated voters, Marist found.
Nearly half of those surveyed also said the city is moving in the wrong direction.
Stu Loeser, spokesman for the mayor, said Bloomberg is not afraid to make unpopular decisions based on his principles.
“The mayor has always done what he thinks is right, including cutting programs people like instead of letting the city go into default and standing up for Constitutional rights even if it's not popular," Loeser said in a statement. "In the long run, New Yorkers respect that he doesn't put his finger in the wind to see what to do.”
Despite the low approval rating, just 5 percent of voters called Bloomberg one of the city’s worst mayors. Twelve percent said he would be remembered as one of the city’s best mayors and another 34 percent said he would leave a positive legacy.
Bloomberg hasn’t announced any presidential plans once he leaves office at the end of 2013, but nearly 70 percent of New Yorkers don’t want him to run for the White House, Marist found.
As for who should succeed Bloomberg, voters are expressing a strong opinion about what they don’t want.
Sixty-four percent of voters do not want former Gov. Eliot Spitzer to run for mayor, and 56 percent said they do not want Diana Taylor, Bloomberg’s longtime companion, to run for his office.
Marist spoke to 696 registered voters between July 28 and Aug. 5. The results have a 4 percent margin for error. The Manhattan results encompass 140 registered voters, with an error margin of 8.5 percent.
