Apparently White New Yorkers Don’t Like the Mayor Much
Mayor de Blasio, friend of famous comedians and the tallest politician in the country, is currently getting raked over the coals by the city that he serves. A Quinnipiac University poll released yesterday found that 47 percent of New Yorkers don’t think the mayor deserves a second term, although as DNAinfo reports, the numbers are largely skewed along racial lines.
Black and Hispanic voters largely support the mayor, and show a much stronger belief in de Blasio’s abilities for a new term in 2017. White voters on the other hand, do not.
As per DNAinfo:
Black voters, by a margin of 58 percent to 33 percent, believe that de Blasio deserves to be reelected. Hispanic voters back a second de Blasio term by 49 percent to 40 percent. White voters say that de Blasio does not deserve reelection by a margin of 61 percent to 29 percent.
Hmm. This begs the question of why white New Yorkers feel so let down by their mayor. Let’s weigh some recent policy decisions that may have contributed to the general feeling of mayoral disaffection shared by this demographic.
- The mayor announced plans to allot $10 million dollars to extend free broadband Internet services to five affordable housing developments.
- The mayor long advocated for a rent freeze that went into effect last June, which will allow 1 million New Yorkers in rent stabilized apartments to keep their rent affordable as property values skyrocket across the city.
- Also last month, de Blasio and police commissioner Bill Bratton teamed up to introduce “true neighborhood policing,” that will see cops commit to longterm stints in various neighborhoods. The idea is to foster trust among people of color and the police, something that is rightfully at an extreme low point right now.
- De Blasio introduced plans to incorporate affordable housing and rezoning, which will stipulate that developers provide affordable units within new building projects.
- He came into office with the pledge of undoing some of the Bloomberg administration’s racially motivated police policies, like stop-and-frisk, and made good on many of those promises.
It looks like white New Yorkers might feel neglected by Bill de Blasio. The gamut of his policies seem to focus on building a New York City that caters to the disadvantaged, as opposed to Russian billionaires or Chinese real estate investment.
One needn’t look further than this Wall Street Journal article that so viscerally captures the white perspective on NYC’s ailing political system. “He’s almost a social-communist,” one Queens resident told the Journal. “He’s so down on me… he’s looking out for the poor,” another said.
Tough life, white people. A city where politicians spend time and money on the poor is no society you should have to live in. Maybe try moving?
Follow Sam Blum on Twitter @Blumnessmonster
