All week NY1 is offering "The City Poll," an exclusive look at the city and the opinions of New Yorkers on a host of issues. Tonight, NY1's Grace Rauh kicks things off with poll numbers about the mayor's approval rating and the direction of the city.
Overall, New Yorkers think Mayor Bill de Blasio is doing a good job.
The City Poll, conducted by NY1 and Baruch College, found that 58 percent - nearly six in 10 New Yorkers - approve of the mayor's job performance. Twenty-four percent disapprove, while 16 percent say they are not sure.
That is helping the mayor with what we're calling his "SAT score," a new measure of how the de Blasio administration is doing, which is much like the Consumer Confidence Index. The score includes New Yorkers satisfaction with city services, the mayor's approval rating and whether New Yorkers think the city is on the right track.
The mayor's SAT score is 64 percent. That figure is a combination of the following: 80 percent of New Yorkers say they are either very or somewhat satisfied with city services, 58 percent approve of his job performance and 53 percent say the city is going in the right direction.
The mayor is most popular with black New Yorkers, as 82 percent approve of the job he is doing, compared with 44 percent of white New Yorkers.
When it comes to the most important problems facing the city, New Yorkers have differing opinions. Twenty-one percent say jobs and the economy, 14 percent say affordable housing, 13 percent say crime and 10 percent say police/community relations.
New Yorkers are also divided about whether the quality of life in the city will improve over the next few years. Twenty-six percent predict it will get better. That same number of New Yorkers think it will get worse. Forty-three percent say it will remain the same, and 5 percent say they are not sure.
As for whether New York will remain a tale of two cities, as the mayor has characterized it, again, residents are split. Forty percent say it will be a city for the privileged in the future, while 55 percent think it will be a city for everyone.
As for that last poll question, New Yorkers who made the least amount of money were actually the most likely to say that the city will be for everyone in the future. Wealthier New Yorkers thought it would be a city for the privileged.
On Wednesday, our poll will examine public safety issues in the city. We'll let you know what New Yorkers think about Police Commissioner William Bratton and police officers in general, and whether they feel safe in their neighborhoods at night. We'll also take a look at New Yorkers' concerns about terrorism.
Results in "The City Poll" have a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percent.