Eric Adams' 28% approval rating is lowest of any NYC mayor in over quarter century in new poll
"It's the worst rating ever for a mayor," said David Birdsell of Kean University.
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- New York City Mayor Eric Adams has faced many crises during his tenure so far, and now he faces an approval rating lower than any mayor's in over a quarter century.
On a frigid street corner near Union Square Wednesday night, a father and his children sat in the cold and asked for help. It's not new to New Yorkers, but to many, it is worse, and some are blaming Mayor Adams.
It has been a year of careening crises for Adams. The flood of asylum seekers from the southern border has consumed his administration and has been so overwhelming that it has gutted budgets and diverted city workers. Now, Adams is paying the price among voters.
"This is bad, in fact it's the worst rating ever for a mayor," said David Birdsell of Kean University.
A Quinnipiac College poll shows that a record 58% of registered New York City voters disapprove of the job Adams is doing. Just 28% approve.
Among the most important issues, 72% disapprove of his handling of the homeless issue, while 66% say he hasn't handled the migrant crisis well, and 60% say Adams, a former police officer, hasn't done enough about crime.
"Clearly, one of the things people responded to was what they see around them: homelessness on the streets, fear of crime," Birdsell said.
A spokesman for the mayor said, "Incorrect polls come out every day, but the real numbers can't be questioned: crime is down, jobs are up, the city is in a better place under Mayor Adams' leadership."
But the voters don't seem to be seeing that yet.
"It's messaging, but it's also about what people feel, and right now the large number of homeless on the street, the large number of examples of people acting out on the subways, they give people a sense of what the city is like," Birdsell said.
"The homeless rate is high, the crime (rate) is high and the transit is awful," one resident said.
The two issues most on the minds of registered voters are crime and affordable housing.
According to the poll, 65% of people said they support raising taxes on the wealthy to help fix the city's problems.
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