More than one-third of New Yorkers believe Mayor de Blasio made a mistake by inviting the Rev. Al Sharpton to sit next to NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton at a news conference to ease tensions after the death of Eric Garner in police custody, according to a poll released Tuesday.
The Quinnipiac University poll found 35 percent of voters said Sharpton should not have been seated equally with Bratton at the City Hall meeting last month, while 25 percent believe the mayor made the right call and 37 percent had no opinion.
During the meeting, Sharpton chastised Bratton for his “broken windows” policing policy, and said the mayor’s mixed-race son, Dante, would be a “candidate” for a police chokehold if he had different parents.
Garner died last month in what was ruled a homicide following a chokehold by police who were trying to arrest him for selling loose cigarettes on Staten Island.
The City Hall episode did little to change the deep divide over how Sharpton is viewed.
Thirty percent believe he has too much influence with de Blasio, while 10 percent say he has too little and 39 percent said he has the right amount.
Despite fueling controversy for decades, Sharpton remains the most influential black leader, as acknowleged by 20 percent of voters.
Coming in a distant second was President Obama, at 5 percent.
The mayor’s own popularity barely budged from the previous Q Poll in June, when he had a 51 percent positive and 28 percent negative rating.
In the new poll, the split was 50-32 percent.