Maurice Carroll, Director

Quinnipiac University Polling Institute

Rubenstein Associates, Inc.,

Public Relations
Pat Smith (212) 843-8026

FOR RELEASE: JUNE 30, 2010

BLOOMBERG UNSCATHED BY NEW YORK CITY BUDGET CUTS,

QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY POLL FINDS;
CITY WORKERS AREN’T DOING FAIR SHARE, VOTERS SAY
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is unhurt – and unhelped – by the recent
announcement of a city budget with some service cuts, with a 57 – 33 percent overall approval
rating and a negative 45 – 47 percent approval for his handling of the city budget, according to a
Quinnipiac University poll released today.
This compares to a 57 – 29 percent approval for Mayor Bloomberg, with a 47 – 44
percent approval for his handling of the budget in a May 21 survey by the independent
Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University.
New York City voters disapprove 52 – 25 percent of the City Council’s handling of the
budget and disapprove 36 – 29 percent of Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s work on the
budget. But Speaker Quinn still gets a 45 – 27 percent overall approval rating, compared to
44 – 26 percent May 21.
Union workers are not doing their fair share to ease New York City’s financial problems,
voters say 56 – 31 percent. Even Democrats say 49 – 36 percent that union workers aren’t doing
their share. Voters in union households back union workers 50 – 42 percent.
Anti-union sentiment ranges from 50 – 36 percent in The Bronx to 66 – 19 percent in
Manhattan and is equally strong among men and women.
“It seems to be open season on public employees. New Yorkers think they’re not doing
their fair share to help with the city’s budget woes. Even union households are mixed on this
issue,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
-more-
Quinnipiac University Poll/June 30, 2010 – page 2
“The budget didn’t help – or hurt – anyone’s approval numbers. Bloomberg still comes
out plus on job approval but he’s rated negative on handling the budget. Council Speaker
Christine Quinn’s budget performance comes out worse than his and the City Council overall
worse than either of them,” Carroll added.
New York City voters approve 47 – 17 percent of the job City Comptroller John Liu is
doing, with 36 percent undecided, and approve 35 – 17 percent of the job Public Advocate Bill
de Blasio is doing, with 48 percent undecided.
“Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Comptroller John Liu are starting to establish public
personalities. A lot of New Yorkers still don’t know enough about them to give them job-
approval ratings but the ‘don't know’ responses are shrinking a little,” Carroll said.
A total of 92 percent of New York City voters still say the city’s budget problems are
“very serious” or “somewhat serious,” compared to 90 percent May 21.
Voters oppose layoffs for city employees 68 – 27 percent, but support furloughs 51 – 36
percent, and back a wage freeze for these workers 62 – 33 percent. Even union households back
a wage freeze 57 – 38 percent.
No layoffs for public school teachers, voters say 82 – 16 percent. But by a very narrow
50 – 47 percent margin, voters support a wage freeze for teachers. Union households split
49 – 49 percent on a teacher wage freeze.
Voters also oppose 63 – 32 percent reducing pension benefits for city workers. Only
Republicans back the idea, 50 – 47 percent.
“We’re as worried as ever about the city budget, but we still balk at layoffs. Employee
furloughs and a wage freeze win public support,” Carroll said.
“Teachers, whose union looks like the bad guys across the Hudson in New Jersey, do
marginally better than their municipal co-workers, in the New York City poll.”
From June 21 – 28, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,183 New York City registered
voters, with a margin of error of +/- 2.9 percentage points.
The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public
opinion surveys in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio and
nationwide as a public service and for research.
For more data or RSS feed– http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, call (203) 582-5201, or follow
us on Twitter.

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1. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Michael Bloomberg is handling his job as Mayor?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp HsHld

Approve 57% 65% 56% 58% 68% 41% 54% 49%

Disapprove 33 31 33 34 25 46 32 41
DK/NA 10 3 11 8 7 13 14 10

Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom

Approve 57% 53% 62% 55% 59% 60% 54%

Disapprove 34 38 28 33 32 33 34
DK/NA 10 9 10 12 9 8 12

TREND: Do you approve or disapprove of the way Michael Bloomberg is handling his job as
Mayor? (*High also 75% Oct 2008, Mar 2008, Jan 2007 & Nov 2005)

APPROVE....... DIS..
High Low High
Jun 30 May 21 Mar 23 Feb 17 Oct 21 Jul 2 Jul 2
2010 2010 2010 2010 2008* 2003 2003

Approve 57 57 61 61 75 31 31
Disapprove 33 29 27 30 20 60 60
DK/NA 10 14 12 9 6 8 8

2. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Ray Kelly is handling his job as Police
Commissioner?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp HsHld

Approve 66% 80% 65% 68% 79% 54% 58% 64%

Disapprove 20 12 21 20 10 32 25 26
DK/NA 14 9 14 12 11 14 17 11

Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom

Approve 60% 67% 64% 69% 77% 68% 65%

Disapprove 27 20 20 17 16 22 19
DK/NA 13 14 15 14 7 10 16

TREND: Do you approve or disapprove of the way Ray Kelly is handling his job as Police
Commissioner? (*High also 70% Feb 2010, Mar 2006 & Feb 2006)

APPROVE....... DIS..
High Low High
Jun 30 May 24 Feb 18 Jul 28 May 24 Jan 16 Jan 16
2010 2010 2010 2009 2010* 2007 2007

Approve 66 70 70 67 70 52 52
Disapprove 20 17 16 20 17 34 34
DK/NA 14 13 14 13 13 14 14
 3
3. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Joel Klein is handling his job as New York
City Schools Chancellor?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp HsHld

Approve 37% 36% 39% 38% 39% 40% 34% 33%

Disapprove 41 39 41 43 36 45 44 52
DK/NA 22 25 20 19 26 15 22 15

Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom

Approve 39% 35% 40% 36% 37% 42% 33%

Disapprove 45 41 38 40 46 36 46
DK/NA 16 24 22 23 17 22 22

TREND: Do you approve or disapprove of the way Joel Klein is handling his job as New York
City Schools Chancellor?

APPROVE.......
High Low
Jun 30 May 21 Feb 17 Mar 24 Feb 24 Feb 26 May 21
2010 2010 2010 2009 2009 2003 2010

Approve 37 30 39 37 44 46 30
Disapprove 41 48 40 35 36 27 48
DK/NA 22 22 21 28 20 28 22

4. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Bill de Blasio is handling his job as Public
Advocate?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp HsHld

Approve 35% 35% 38% 33% 33% 42% 36% 37%

Disapprove 17 22 15 20 17 18 18 18
DK/NA 48 43 47 47 50 40 46 45

Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom

Approve 31% 39% 33% 35% 38% 37% 34%

Disapprove 20 17 18 13 18 19 15
DK/NA 48 44 49 51 44 45 50

TREND: Do you approve or disapprove of the way Bill de Blasio is handling his job as
Public Advocate?

Jun 30 May 21 Feb 17

2010 2010 2010

Approve 35 34 37
Disapprove 17 16 13
DK/NA 48 50 50

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5. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Christine Quinn is handling her job as City
Council Speaker?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp HsHld

Approve 45% 37% 50% 42% 47% 50% 42% 43%

Disapprove 27 37 22 34 27 28 23 34
DK/NA 28 26 29 23 27 22 35 23

Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom

Approve 43% 42% 49% 46% 46% 40% 49%

Disapprove 24 30 26 27 27 35 20
DK/NA 33 28 25 27 26 24 31

TREND: Do you approve or disapprove of the way Christine Quinn is handling her job as
City Council Speaker?

APPROVE.......
High Low
Jun 30 May 21 Feb 17 Feb 24 Jan 27 Mar 14 Nov 25
2010 2010 2010 2009 2009 2007 2008

Approve 45 44 44 42 43 51 40
Disapprove 27 26 28 25 23 12 29
DK/NA 28 30 27 33 34 37 31

6. Do you approve or disapprove of the way John Liu is handling his job as City
Comptroller?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp HsHld

Approve 47% 37% 51% 44% 43% 58% 45% 52%

Disapprove 17 31 13 20 17 13 24 16
DK/NA 36 32 36 36 40 29 32 31

Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom

Approve 48% 48% 40% 50% 54% 52% 42%

Disapprove 15 19 22 12 13 17 17
DK/NA 38 33 37 39 33 31 41

TREND: Do you approve or disapprove of the way John Liu is handling his job as City
Comptroller?

Jun 30 May 21 Feb 17

2010 2010 2010

Approve 47 49 44
Disapprove 17 13 11
DK/NA 36 38 45

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7. In general, how satisfied are you with the way things are going in New York City
today? Are you very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very
dissatisfied?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp HsHld

Very satisfied 6% 8% 7% 4% 8% 4% 4% 4%
Smwht satisfied 43 39 45 43 49 39 37 41
Smwht dissatisfied 30 26 29 30 27 31 36 33
Very dissatisfied 20 26 19 21 15 25 22 21
DK/NA 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 2

Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom

Very satisfied 6% 4% 9% 6% 2% 7% 5%
Smwht satisfied 39 44 45 42 40 45 41
Smwht dissatisfied 33 27 29 29 34 28 31
Very dissatisfied 21 23 15 21 21 18 22
DK/NA 1 1 1 1 4 2 1

TREND: In general, how satisfied are you with the way things are going in New York City
today? Are you very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very
dissatisfied?

VERY+SMWHT...
High Low
Jun 30 May 21 Feb 17 Jul 28 Jun 16 Feb 11 Jul 2
2010 2010 2010 2009 2009 1998 2003

Very satisfied 6 7 8 8 8 18 7
Smwht satisfied 43 44 51 51 51 58 23
Smwht dissatisfied 30 32 26 26 27 18 32
Very dissatisfied 20 16 14 14 13 5 38
DK/NA 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

8. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Michael Bloomberg is handling the city budget?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp HsHld

Approve 45% 55% 42% 49% 57% 30% 42% 37%

Disapprove 47 39 50 42 34 62 52 56
DK/NA 9 6 8 9 9 8 7 7

Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom

Approve 35% 43% 49% 47% 48% 53% 38%

Disapprove 55 50 41 43 44 40 52
DK/NA 9 7 10 10 8 8 10

TREND: Do you approve or disapprove of the way Michael Bloomberg is handling the city
budget? (*High also 55% Jan 2009)
APPROVE.......
High Low
Jun 30 May 21 Feb 17 Mar 24 Feb 25 Feb 17 May 7
2010 2010 2010 2009 2009 2010 2003

Approve 45 47 55 54 54 55 28

7
Disapprove 47 44 35 34 38 35 63
DK/NA 9 9 10 12 9 10 9
9. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Christine Quinn is handling the city budget?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp HsHld

Approve 29% 28% 30% 29% 28% 32% 29% 25%

Disapprove 36 43 35 36 29 41 42 45
DK/NA 35 30 35 35 42 28 29 30

Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom

Approve 29% 26% 32% 27% 32% 32% 26%

Disapprove 38 38 31 39 36 39 34
DK/NA 33 36 37 34 32 29 41

10. Do you approve or disapprove of the way the City Council is handling the city budget?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp HsHld

Approve 25% 25% 27% 23% 27% 27% 22% 23%

Disapprove 52 52 50 56 44 57 60 58
DK/NA 23 22 23 21 29 16 17 19

Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom

Approve 22% 25% 29% 24% 27% 28% 23%

Disapprove 54 53 45 55 55 53 51
DK/NA 24 22 26 21 18 19 26

11. To balance the city budget, if you had to choose, would you prefer – raising taxes or
cutting government programs and services?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp HsHld

Raising taxes 48% 20% 58% 44% 43% 49% 56% 51%
Cutting services 36 70 25 40 46 31 26 36
DK/NA 16 10 17 15 12 20 18 13

Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom

Raising taxes 49% 49% 54% 46% 33% 45% 52%

Cutting services 30 36 31 39 54 42 30
DK/NA 21 15 15 16 13 13 18

TREND: To balance the city budget, if you had to choose, would you prefer raising taxes
or cutting government programs and services?

Jun 30 May 21 Feb 17 Mar 24 Feb 25 Jan 28 Nov 25

2010 2010 2010 2009 2009 2009 2008

Raising taxes 48 45 43 52 53 46 48
Cutting services 36 40 45 37 39 39 37
DK/NA 16 14 13 11 8 15 15

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12. How serious do you think New York City's budget problems are - very serious, somewhat
serious, not too serious, not at all serious?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp HsHld

Very serious 65% 61% 65% 66% 61% 73% 70% 71%
Smwht serious 27 29 27 29 33 23 20 24
Not too serious 4 6 6 3 3 3 6 2
Not at all serious 2 4 1 1 - 1 4 2
DK/NA 1 1 1 1 2 - 1 1

Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom

Very serious 70% 67% 63% 60% 75% 62% 68%

Smwht serious 24 24 30 32 22 30 25
Not too serious 4 5 5 4 2 4 4
Not at all serious 1 2 1 4 1 3 1
DK/NA 1 2 1 - - 2 1

TREND: How serious do you think New York City's budget problems are – very serious,
somewhat serious, not too serious, or not at all serious? (*High also 95% Jan 2009)

VERY+SMWHT....
High Low
Jun 30 May 21 Feb 17 Mar 24 Feb 25 Feb 25 Jul 17
2010 2010 2010 2009 2009 2009* 2002

Very serious 65 60 53 65 61 61 46
Smwht serious 27 30 39 29 34 34 41
Not too serious 4 6 5 3 3 3 9
Not at all serious 2 1 1 - 1 1 1
DK/NA 1 2 1 2 1 1 3

13. To help balance the city budget would you support or oppose - layoffs for city
employees?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp HsHld

Support 27% 49% 21% 33% 38% 14% 21% 19%

Oppose 68 49 74 60 56 80 78 76
DK/NA 5 3 4 7 6 5 1 5

Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom

Support 18% 27% 36% 27% 19% 35% 20%

Oppose 78 67 60 68 76 59 76
DK/NA 4 6 4 5 5 6 4

TREND: To help balance the city budget would you support or oppose layoffs for city
employees?

Jun 30 May 21 Feb 17

2010 2010 2010

Support 27 32 32
Oppose 68 63 63
DK/NA 5 6 5

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14. To help balance the city budget would you support or oppose - furloughs for city
employees?
Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp HsHld

Support 51% 61% 47% 55% 56% 49% 44% 43%

Oppose 36 31 39 32 33 37 46 47
DK/NA 13 8 14 13 11 15 10 10

Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom

Support 51% 46% 57% 50% 48% 56% 46%

Oppose 36 37 32 35 45 33 39
DK/NA 13 16 10 15 7 12 15

TREND: To help balance the city budget would you support or oppose furloughs for city
employees?
Jun 30 May 21 Feb 17
2010 2010 2010

Support 51 50 50
Oppose 36 41 34
DK/NA 13 9 16

15. To help balance the city budget, would you support or oppose - a wage freeze for city
workers?
Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp HsHld

Support 62% 78% 57% 70% 72% 48% 53% 57%

Oppose 33 20 38 25 24 47 42 38
DK/NA 5 2 5 6 4 4 6 4

Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom

Support 56% 60% 68% 61% 64% 69% 56%

Oppose 38 34 29 33 32 26 38
DK/NA 6 6 3 6 4 5 5

TREND: To help balance the city budget, would you support or oppose a wage freeze for
city workers?
Jun 30 May 21 Feb 17
2010 2010 2010

Support 62 60 63
Oppose 33 35 31
DK/NA 5 5 6

16. To help balance the city budget, would you support or oppose – reducing pension
benefits for city workers?
Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp HsHld

Support 32% 50% 24% 42% 42% 22% 24% 21%

Oppose 63 47 72 50 52 76 73 75
DK/NA 5 3 4 7 6 3 3 4

Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom

Support 21% 33% 42% 32% 22% 40% 26%

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Oppose 75 62 53 63 74 57 68
DK/NA 4 5 5 5 4 4 6
17. To help balance the city budget would you support or oppose - layoffs for public
school teachers?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp HsHld

Support 16% 39% 9% 19% 24% 10% 6% 13%

Oppose 82 61 89 78 73 90 93 86
DK/NA 2 - 2 3 3 - 2 1

Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom

Support 13% 18% 17% 13% 13% 20% 12%

Oppose 84 79 81 85 84 78 86
DK/NA 3 3 2 2 2 2 2

18. To help balance the city budget, would you support or oppose - a wage freeze for
public school teachers?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp HsHld

Support 50% 64% 45% 58% 59% 42% 39% 49%

Oppose 47 35 52 38 38 57 60 49
DK/NA 3 1 3 4 4 1 1 2

Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom

Support 44% 47% 51% 54% 57% 55% 46%

Oppose 54 49 46 42 42 42 51
DK/NA 3 4 2 3 1 3 3

19. Do you think union workers are doing their fair share to ease New York City's
financial problems or not?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp HsHld

Yes 31% 24% 36% 23% 27% 37% 29% 50%

No 56 69 49 67 60 50 61 42
DK/NA 13 7 15 10 12 13 10 8

Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom

Yes 36% 33% 19% 34% 35% 31% 30%

No 50 54 66 55 52 58 55
DK/NA 14 13 15 11 14 11 14

TREND: Do you think union workers are doing their fair share to ease New York City's
financial problems or not?

Jun 30 May 7
2010 2003

Yes 31 41
No 56 47
DK/NA 13 13

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