Mayor Bloomberg’s strong performance during Hurricane Irene has restored his popularity to the same high level as before the botched Christmas-time blizzard, according to a poll out today.
The Quinnipiac University poll found that Bloomberg’s deft handling of the powerful storm won over an overwhelming 86 percent of New Yorkers, with only 10 percent dissatisfied.
That translated into a reversal of political fortune for the third-term mayor, whose approval rating shot up to 54 percent positive, versus 35 percent negative, or nearly identical to his standing before the blizzard.
The numbers represented a 17-point surge from the the last Quinnipiac poll in July, when 45 percent of voters gave Bloomberg a passing grade, while nearly an equal number — 43 percent — didn’t.
“The critics cried ‘overkill!’ But most people agreed with the mayor, ‘better safe than sorry.’ Overwhelmingly, Bloomberg’s handling of Irene gets high marks,” said pollster Maurice Carroll.
The poll of 1,282 voters was conducted Sept. 1-6, when Bloomberg was grappling from the fallout of the resignation of Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith. The Post disclosed that Goldsmith left following his arrest by Washington D.C. cops answering a call for help from his wife, not to pursue other opportunities as the administration had claimed.
On another front, the poll found strong sentiment against charging an entry fee to the 9/11 museum. Seventy-one percent were against an admission charge, 23 percent were okay with it. But even those willing to pay said the $25 suggested donation being floated was too high.