Nonpartisan elections were soundly rejected by city voters seven years ago, but a poll out yesterday indicated the mood of the electorate has shifted and the proposal might just have a shot if it gets on the ballot this November.
The poll of 797 voters by Quinnipiac University reported that 41 percent believe elections without party labels are a good idea, while 51 percent don’t.
That represents significant movement from a year ago, when only 30 percent were for changing the city’s electoral system and 58 percent were against.
Independent voters support it by 61-33 percent, the poll found.
One Democratic official said the outcome reflects a restless and agitated electorate.
“People are very angry,” said City Councilman Lew Fidler (D-Brooklyn).
Every year, Fidler conducts his own informal constituent survey and he said the responses this month on budget issues were “harsher than I’ve ever seen.”
Since he’s on the council’s budget negotiating committee, Fidler included a routine question on how residents in his district would feel about raising property taxes, a remote possibility.
He was stunned when one of the written responses came back, “Are you out of your f- – -ing mind?”
The Charter Revision Commission appointed by Mayor Bloomberg is now studying which issues to place on this year’s election ballot, and one of them is nonpartisan elections.
Bloomberg was a vocal advocate for getting rid of party designations in 2003 and he spent $7.5 million trying to convince voters to go along.
After a hard-fought campaign, they decided to keep the status quo, humbling the mayor with a 70-30 percent no vote.
It’s not clear how hard Bloomberg will push this year. But, as one insider observed, “It’s certainly a better climate than it was in 2003.”
In other results, the poll showed that the mayor’s approval rating dipped slightly from 61 percent positive and 27 percent negative in March to 57-29 percent, his worst showing in five years.
Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, on the other hand, registered an all-time low rating of 30 percent positive, 48 percent negative.
To no one’s surprise, voters opposed every single one of the mayor’s service cut proposals, from reducing library hours to closing senior centers. The loudest outcry was over eliminating 20 fire companies, which 88 percent rejected.
“Hardly anyone doubts that the city is in tough fiscal shape,” said pollster Maurice Carroll.
“But New Yorkers don’t like any of the budget-balancing cuts that have been talked about,” except for giving city workers furloughs and wage freezes.