NEW YORK – Most New Yorkers want the city’s next mayor to continue Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s policies. A New York Post poll says that 58 percent of those surveyed want the next mayor to follow Giuliani’s path.
Thirty-nine percent said they favor a change in direction.
The survey also found that Giuliani, a Republican who has nine months left in office, received a 69 percent approval rating.
Democratic pollster Ronald Lester says “These are extremely high numbers for a big-city mayor who has been in office for eight years.”
A majority of voters favored Giuliani’s initiatives on crime, police-community relations, public transit and his “quality-of-life” programs.
But Giuliani’s public education policies garnered only a 44 percent approval rating, while 45 percent disagreed.
Based on the poll, 21 percent said that media mogul and possible GOP candidate Michael Bloomberg would be the most likely to continue Giuliani’s policies. Only ten percent picked Vallone, with the other Democratic candidates trailing behind.
The poll has a margin of error of four percentage points.
Other findings in the poll:
– 54 percent of black voters disapproved of the mayor, while only 19 percent of Hispanics and 21 percent of whites disapproved.
– 63 percent said the city is on track despite the recent stock market slide, while only 24 percent said they believe it’s going the wrong way.
