If Ray Kelly has even the slightest inclination to enter the race for mayor he might want to do so right now.
A Quinnipiac University poll out today showed the police commissioner riding a wave of popularity with the highest approval rating of his career, a sky-high 75 percent positive rating and only 18 percent negative.
Even black voters, who might have issues with the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk tactics, were won over by Kelly, 63 to 27 percent.
Mayor Bloomberg, Kelly’s boss, had a 56-37 percent approval mark.
The Police Department scored the second-highest marks since the poll began asking the question about its performance, with a 70-23 approval grade. The only time the numbers for the force were higher was in February 2002, the aftermath of 9/11.
“Perhaps because of the Newtown massacre or because of the recent announcement that murder in the Big Apple is at an all-time low, or both, New York City voters like their top cop and all their cops even more,” said poll director Maurice Carroll.
Kelly’s enormous appeal spilled into political arena.
Voters by a 63-19 percent margin said they’d be more inclined to support a mayoral candidate who promised to keep Kelly in the commissioner’s job.
That’s good news for City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the only one of the major Democratic mayoral contenders whohinted she would re-hire Kelly during a forum Tuesday night sponsored by the Rev. Al Sharpton in Harlem.