A majority of New Yorkers believe the city is headed in the wrong direction and that Mayor Eric Adams is doing an average or poor job, according to a recent poll.
The pessimistic findings come from a Spectrum News NY1/Siena poll released Tuesday that shows a net favorability rating of -35 for the mayor.
The survey found that 29% of New York City adults believe Adams is doing a great or good job as mayor, but 64% say he is doing a fair or poor job.
Although he was underwater on all performance-related questions, there were a few issues where the mayor fared even worse. When it comes to fighting crime, a whopping 74% of those surveyed believe she is doing an average or poor job. New York City has seen its fair share of gun violence with the Brooklyn subway shooting last month and incidents where multiple children were shot, including while sitting in a car or walking down the street. .
Meanwhile, on the topic of homelessness, 76% believe they are doing a fair or poor job. This has proven to be a hot topic as the mayor has drawn criticism from homeless people and their advocates when it comes to removing street encampments, which they say does not address the problem. The elimination of street encampments has become a controversial practice mirroring similar efforts in other liberal metropolises that had previously tolerated encampments. Still others think homelessness in the city needs to be addressed.
Adams also underperformed 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 survey, 64% of respondents believe that Adams, a former captain of the New York City Police, is doing an average or poor job of transforming the Police into a force that protects and serves the city. He scored the same percentage points among respondents who believe he is doing an average or poor job of addressing the security issue on Rikers Island.
Meanwhile, 62% of those surveyed believe that Adams is doing an average or poor job of managing day-to-day city services.
However, the poll also revealed that, by a 53-37% margin, city residents approve of the mayor’s style.
Additionally, the survey showed that 70% of New Yorkers say they feel less safe in the city than they did before the pandemic, compared to 25% who feel as safe today as they did before the pandemic and only 3% who feel safer. According to the survey, 76% said they were very or somewhat concerned about being the victim of a violent crime.
“If New Yorkers had a honeymoon with Mayor Adams, it was brief and clearly over. Only 29% give him a positive rating for the job he is doing as mayor, compared to 64% who give it a negative rating,” said Dr. Don Levy, director of the Siena College Research Institute.
“Even worse for Adams are his job performance ratings on specific subjects. About three-quarters of New Yorkers give it negative ratings on both addressing homelessness and fighting crime. And at least 59% give it negative marks on transforming the New York City Police, managing city services, security on Rikers Island, and managing 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.
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