A quick note here. No shocker. Just want to share how they do these things.
Tuesday night we got a call from a "survey" firm in Utah (801 377 7003). It seemed like they were just starting. The questions started as if it were a standard poll for NYC Mayoral election. The questions were (I'm paraphrasing) - 'Who are you likely to vote for?'. 'How favorable is your opinion of de Blasio?',etc.
But at the end of the survey the questions suddenly veered into sticky land. I didn't tape the conversation. But they went something like:
'Would you support a candidate (they didn't mention a name in this section) who:
...announced he was for term limits and then that he was against them
...doled out millions in 'member items' when he was in the City Council and then when he had another job announced he was against member items.
...was endorsed by unions.
...took contributions from lobbyists when the lobbyists' clients' business was before the City Council.'
Sure De Blasio has a huge lead in the yesterday's Marist poll (+40ish). But the negative ads are coming. They are just looking for the hot button.
The Koch brothers and family have already put in $300,000. (Article)
Negative ads helped knock Christine Quinn out of the Democratic Nomination. 'Anybody But Quinn' spent $1 Million reminding (those who had forgotten) that Quinn had been instrumental in bringing us Bloomberg's third term.
Of course, de Blasio is a strong campaigner, unlike Quinn. I'm not too worried.
They don't seem to have written the negative ads yet. But they are coming. Lhota is far, far behind, and only has a six weeks.