The majority of New Yorkers believe the city is heading in the wrong direction, while Mayor Eric Adams is doing only a fair or poor job, according to a recent poll.
The pessimistic findings come from a Spectrum News NY1/ Siena poll released Tuesday that show a -35 net favorability rating for the mayor.
The poll found that 29% of New York City adults think Adams is doing an excellent or good job as mayor, but 64% say he’s doing only a fair or poor job.
Although he was underwater on every performance-related question, there were a few issues in which the mayor fared even worse. When it comes to fighting crime, a whopping 74% of those surveyed believe he is doing a fair or poor job. New York City has seen its fair share of gun violence with the mass subway shooting in Brooklyn last month and incidents of multiple kids getting shot, including while sitting in a car or walking on the street.
Meanwhile, on the topic of homelessness, 76% believe he is doing a fair or poor job. This has proven a hot topic as the mayor has received criticism by those experiencing homelessness and their advocates when it comes to removing street encampments, which they say does not address the problem. The removal of the street encampments has become a controversial practice that mirrors similar efforts in other liberal metropolises that had previously tolerated the encampments. However, others think that homelessness in the city needs to be resolved.
Adams also polled worse than Gov. Kathy Hochul among Big Apple voters. While 54% of those surveyed believe Hochul is doing a fair or poor job, 64% believe the same of Adams.
According to the poll, 64% of those polled believe Adams, a former NYPD captain, is doing a fair or poor job at transforming the NYPD into a force that protects and serves the city. He scored the same percentage points among those surveyed who believe he is doing a fair or poor job at tackling the safety issue at Rikers Island.
Meanwhile, 62% of those polled believe Adams is doing a fair or poor job at managing everyday city services.
However, the poll also revealed that, by a 53-37% margin, city residents approve of the mayor’s style.
Additionally, the poll showed that 70% of New Yorkers say they feel less safe in the city than pre-pandemic, compared to 25% who feel about as safe today as before the pandemic and only 3% who feel safer. According to the poll, 76% said they are very or somewhat concerned that they will be a victim of violent crime.
“If New Yorkers had a honeymoon with Mayor Adams, it was brief and it’s clearly over. Only 29% give him a positive rating for the job he’s doing as mayor, compared to 64% who give him a negative rating,” said Dr. Don Levy, Director, Siena College Research Institute.
“Even worse for Adams are his job performance ratings on specific issues. About three-quarters of New Yorkers give him negative grades on both addressing homelessness and fighting crime. And at least 59% give him negative grades on transforming the NYPD, managing city services, tackling safety at Rikers Island, and running the public schools,” Levy said.
The survey was conducted from May 22 to June 1, 2022 by telephone to 1,000 New York City residents. It has an overall margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.
