CIVIC CENTER — Mayor Bill de Blasio has some fans in the black community, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.
De Blasio’s job approval rating among city voters jumpted to 51 percent, up from 45 percent in March, according to Quinnipiac.
The mayor’s rise in popularity was driven primarily by black voters, who gave de Blasio a 66 percent approval rating. That represented a 6-percentage point jump from Quinnipiac’s March survey.
By comparison, white voters remain divided over de Blasio’s first six months in office—41 percent of white voters approved, while 42 percent disapproved.
“Black New Yorkers voted overwhelmingly to make Bill de Blasio the mayor. They liked him in our last poll and they like him even more now,” said Maurice Carroll, Quinnipiac University Poll Assistant Director. “White voters are still split, creating a widening approval gap.
“This probably is not the ‘Tale of Two Cities’ which the mayor envisioned."
De Blasio got good marks from voters on his handling of crime, with 57 percent of voters approving. This, despite an 11 percent rise in gun violence in the city compared to the same time last year, according to the latest statistics from the police department.
While the mayor’s numbers have improved, he still lags behind city Comptroller Scott Stringer, who leads all citywide elected officials with an approval rating of 57 percent.
The survey interviewed 1,033 city voters from June 5 through 9 using landlines and cellphones. The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
