By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Mayor Michael Bloomberg's selection of Cathie Black as the city's schools chancellor is not helping his popularity with voters, according to a new Quinnipiac poll.
Bloomberg’s approval rating has fallen to 55 percent, his lowest in five years, thanks to voter frustrations over his controversial new schools chancellor pick, Quinnipiac University Polling Institute director Maurice Carroll said.
Forty-seven percent of voters polled don't approve of Black's selection to replace Joel Klein as chancellor. Parents with young children in public schools were even more frustrated, with 63 percent of them voicing their disapproval to pollsters.
"The City Hall spin machine better shift into high gear," Carroll said. "So far, all the negative news stories are murdering Cathleen Black — and not doing Mayor Michael Bloomberg much good, either."
Only 29 percent of voters supported Bloomberg's choice to make the former Hearst Magazine president the top school official in the city, according to the poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percent.
Most voters were unhappy with Black's selection because they think she lacks the education experience necessary for the job, according to the Quinnipiac poll. More than 60 percent of voters polled said the schools chancellor needs education experience, not management experience.
"The only positive sign for her is that about one quarter of voters don't know enough to say whether they approve or disapprove of her appointment. So there's some room for the spinners to make Bloomberg's case," Carroll said.
Still, Carroll points out that even though Bloomberg's approval rating has suffered, it's still high.
"A lot of politicians would kill for those kinds of numbers," Carroll said.
