New Yorkers haven’t voted for a liberal Democratic mayor in nearly a quarter century. But if yesterday’s Quinnipiac poll is any clue, that may change this year. A large swath of the Democratic Party apparently favors rejecting the Bloomberg record in favor of a more left-wing direction.
The latest Q poll puts de Blasio’s support at 43 percent. That’s more than twice any of his nearest rivals, former Comptroller Bill Thompson and City Council Speaker Chris Quinn. If the poll is real and de Blasio holds it through next Tuesday, he’ll win the Democratic nomination for mayor without having to go through a runoff.
In this campaign, de Blasio has distinguished himself on two counts: He’s at once the most leftward candidate in the Democratic field, and he has been the least favored by the unions. That may be because they view him as too left to be electable.
We hope so. Because it’s hard to think of an agenda more destructive than what de Blasio offers: a potent brew of class warfare, Great Society spending and traditional, soft-on-crime liberalism.
There’s an opening here for the GOP. But it means getting off of a ridiculous debate about cats on subway tracks and drawing sharp contrasts on the main issues affecting the city’s future: from crime to school reform to the oppressive taxes that support a bloated $70 billion budget.
In the past, when confronted with such a choice, New Yorkers have been more than willing to part company with Democrats. Let’s hope Republicans remember that their only path to victory lies in giving city voters a real choice.