Have some more good news on the New York City Mayor's race:
http://www.nytimes.com/...
With five weeks until Election Day, the race for New York City mayor is shaping up to be a landslide, with Bill de Blasio holding a 50-point lead over his Republican opponent, Joseph J. Lhota, in a poll released on Thursday by Quinnipiac University.
Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, received the support of 71 percent of likely voters, compared with 21 percent for Mr. Lhota, the poll found. The Independence Party candidate, Adolfo Carrión Jr., received 2 percent.
The poll, conducted from Sept. 25 to Oct. 1, showed Mr. de Blasio, the city’s public advocate, with a comfortable lead among white voters and an enormous one among blacks and Hispanics. Only 5 percent of likely voters remained undecided, and less than a tenth of those who favored Mr. de Blasio said there was a good chance they would change whom they supported.
“These numbers say Public Advocate Bill de Blasio’s kids can start arguing over who gets the best bedroom in Gracie Mansion,” Maurice Carroll, the director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said.
More New York City voters liked Mr. de Blasio than his opponent, according to the poll, and they also believed he would do a better job handling key policy issues.
Mr. de Blasio was viewed favorably by 69 percent of likely voters. Only 26 percent viewed Mr. Lhota, a former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, in a positive light. A third of voters said they did not know enough about him to form an opinion. - New York Times, 10/3/13
Looks like Joe Lhota's (R) negative campaign attacks aren't helping him:
http://gothamist.com/...
Quinnipiac poll director Maurice Carroll said, "These numbers say Public Advocate Bill de Blasio's kids can start arguing over who gets the best bedroom in Gracie Mansion. The flurry of negative headlines about name changes, the Sandanista visit, the Cuban honeymoon don't seem to have any effect."
He adds, "It's a new city demographically and de Blasio captures it. His primary-election coalition, with huge support among black and Hispanic voters, holds in this poll taken after primary-day opinions had time to settle in."
NYC's political reporters are speculating whether Lhota's dirty-socialist-hippie strategy is working:
Some other factoids from Quinnipiac:
New York City likely voters say 55 - 26 percent that de Blasio will do a better job than Lhota keeping them safe and say 63 - 18 percent that the Democrat will do a better job improving the public schools.
If de Blasio is elected, taxes will go up, 35 percent say, while 7 percent say taxes will go down and 46 percent say they won't change. If Lhota is elected, taxes will go up, 37 percent say, while 4 percent say they will go down and 43 percent say they will stay the same.
Among de Blasio voters, 38 percent are "very enthusiastic" and 49 percent are "somewhat enthusiastic." Among Lhota backers, 26 percent are "very enthusiastic" and 54 percent are "somewhat enthusiastic." - Gothamist, 10/3/13
de Blasio might just be the most popular New York Democrat right now. Can't say the same for Governor Andrew Cuomo (D. NY):
http://www.syracuse.com/...
Just 49 percent of New Yorkers think Gov. Andrew Cuomo is doing an excellent or good job, a new low rating of his job performance since he took office in 2011, according to a new poll out this morning from Siena College.
Among Upstate voters, only 37 percent like the job the Democratic governor is doing, the poll found.
Still, the Siena survey found a majority of New Yorkers favor Cuomo and 52 percent are ready to re-elect him next year. But the governor fell slightly in the three main areas -- favorability, job performance and electability -- Siena found when comparing the poll with last month's numbers.
Statewide, 64 percent of those polled say they view the governor favorably, today's poll found. But just 52 percent say they are prepared to re-elect him while 39 percent would prefer someone else. That's a slip from 55 percent to 35 percent in popularity at the polls found by Siena in last month.
The bulk of Cuomo's support is in New York City and its suburbs, where 62 percent and 54 percent, respectively, are ready to vote for him in the 2014 race, today's poll found.
Among Upstate voters, just 40 percent polled would re-elect the governor and 52 percent say they'd prefer another candidate. - The Post-Standard, 9/30/13
By the way, check out what Cuomo's up to:
http://www.bizjournals.com/...
Gov. Andrew Cuomo formed a tax-cutting commission that he says will work to slash up to $3 billion in property taxes and other burdensome taxes for businesses.
The commission will focus on the next phase of tax relief, which Cuomo said is reducing the state’s property taxes. He said the goal is to drop $2 billion to $3 billion in taxes over the next few years.
“Even for businesses the number one tax in the state is property tax,” Cuomo said during a news conference Wednesday at Manhattanville College. “Businesses pay about $17 billion in property taxes and corporate taxes are only about $7 billion.”
The announcement is Cuomo's next step to push tax relief for businesses and working families. The goal is to keep businesses in the state and attract new businesses, especially in upstate New York.
In June, the state Legislature passed Cuomo’s program called START-UP NY, which will allow some businesses to locate in the state tax-free if they set-up shop on or near a college campus. - Albany Business Review, 10/3/13
Former Republican Gov. George Pataki and Carl McCall, chairman of the State University of New York Board of Trustees and former state comptroller will serve on Cuomo's commission as well as Heather Briccetti, president of the state Business Council, and Denis Hughes, former president of the AFL-CIO. Some people worry that Cuomo's tax plan could interfere with de Blasio's tax plan:
http://www.nydailynews.com/...
Although Cuomo has endorsed de Blasio’s campaign against Republican Joe Lhota, his new tax-cutting commission could stand in the way of de Blasio’s centerpiece campaign promise: to raise taxes on people making more than $500,000 to expand prekindergarten programs to all city 4-year-olds.
De Blasio won’t be able to execute his plan without Cuomo’s support since Albany must approve all income tax changes in the state.
“It’s a huge problem for de Blasio,” said one well-known Democratic official who declined to be identified. “De Blasio’s plan was always going to be a challenge in Albany, but (Cuomo’s new tax commission) certainly makes it harder.”
Veteran Democratic operative Hank Sheinkopf, meanwhile, added that Cuomo’s reelection campaign is likely to clash with de Blasio’s campaign promise.
“Andrew Cuomo needs to get reelected and Bill de Blasio needs a tax increase in an election year,” Sheinkopf said. “That’s not usually a good mix.” - New York Daily News, 10/3/13
But de Blasio doesn't think it will be a problem:
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Mr. Cuomo’s promise to seek tax cuts — he sat at a table bearing a sign that said “Committed to Cutting Taxes” — adds to the uncertainty about the signature proposal by Bill de Blasio, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, to raise local income taxes on the city’s top earners to pay for expanded prekindergarten and after-school programs. Mr. de Blasio’s proposal would require approval from Albany.
Mr. de Blasio said he was optimistic that Mr. Cuomo’s desire to cut taxes statewide would not affect the Legislature’s willingness to allow New York City to raise taxes, and he argued that Albany should allow local governments to make local taxation decisions for themselves. He said he had no alternative plan for financing universal prekindergarten.
“This is very different from the question of what taxes the state assesses directly,” Mr. de Blasio told reporters in Red Hook, Brooklyn, where he was touring an after-school program. “It’s a modest addition to taxation for folks who make a half-million or more, but it would make a huge strategic difference for our schools.”
Mr. Cuomo did not address Mr. de Blasio’s proposal on Wednesday. But he said that improving state finances made tax cuts possible, and that he was concerned high taxes could drive people to move elsewhere. - New York Times, 10/2/13
We shall see. Meanwhile, Lhota is now trying to sell himself as a Liberal Republican:
http://www.nydailynews.com/...
Joe Lhota's first TV ad since becoming the GOP mayoral nominee has this message for voters: I’m like a Democrat — but better.
“Bill de Blasio is pro-choice. Joe Lhota is pro-choice,” a narrator tells voters in the 30-second spot — the first from a candidate in the general election campaign. “Lhota supports gay marriage. De Blasio supports gay marriage. Both support decriminalizing marijuana.”
The ad declares that the difference between the two is this: “De Blasio wants to raise taxes and supports reckless government spending. Lhota wants to cut wasteful government spending, putting more money back in your pocket.” The spot adds: “ Democrats agree. Joe Lhota is New York.” - New York Daily News, 10/3/13
But de Blasio isn't going to let Lhota dupe voters:
http://politicker.com/...
In a blistering broadside at an unrelated Brooklyn press conference today, Mr. de Blasio told Politicker that Mr. Lhota has to embrace everyone from Mitt Romney to Barry Goldwater, whom Mr. Lhota professed an affinity for in college.
“First of all, it’s 2013 and the Republican Party has evolved, thanks to Mr. Lhota’s friend Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan and others over the last two decades, it’s evolved into a very right-wing party nationally and in many ways in this state,” Mr. de Blasio said when asked about his efforts to link Mr. Lhota, a self-professed social liberal, to the Tea Party. ”So you can’t be a Republican bystander. You can’t say, you know, ‘Oh I’m an innocent liberal Republican and all those other things happened. Too bad.’”
“If you’re a member of the Republican Party you’re buying into the whole idea and it has not been pretty to watch what the Republican Party has done to this country and what it is doing this very day through the Tea Party members of Congress who have literally shut down our government against the will of the people,” Mr. de Blasio continued.
“So I think, you know, you break it, you own it. If he chooses to be an ideological Republican and he does not deny he’s an ideological Republican, then he has to account for the whole package,” he said.
Mr. de Blasio then moved to compare Mr. Lhota to failed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who had positioned himself as a moderate.
“I would remind you,” Mr. de Blasio said, “that a lot of people tried to suggest that Mitt Romney was a different kind of Republican. And yet, when the time came, he made very clear how much he wanted the conservative Republican and bent over backwards to achieve that support. I think Mr. Lhota did a similar thing when he met with the Tea Party in Staten Island a few months ago.” - Politicker, 10/2/13
By the way, de Blasio released a new ad (featured above) calling on New Yorkers to join his cause:
http://politicker.com/...
The 30-second spot, which his the airwaves today, features footage from Mr. de Blasio’s primary night victory party, where he addressed a huge crowd of enthusiastic supporters gathered at a Brooklyn concert hall.
“There are those who have said our ambition for this city is too bold, that we’re asking of the wealthiest New Yorkers too much, that we’re setting our sights for the children of this city too high,” a steadfast Mr. de Blasio tells the group, flanked by his now-famous family as soaring music plays behind him.
“Well let me say this: We are New Yorkers. Thinking big isn’t new to us. We are bigger, we are stronger, we are better as a city when we make sure that everyone has a shot,” he says.
The ad ends with the tagline: “Join the Cause.”
“It will remind you of how far we’ve come, and why there’s too much at stake to let up now,” Mr. de Blasio’s campaign manager Bill Hyers said in an email to his supporters announcing the spot. - Politicker, 10/3/13
The momentum is on de Blasio's side here. Lets keep that momentum going all the way until election day. You can click here to donate or get involved with de Blasio's campaign:
http://www.billdeblasio.com/