The city’s former chief executive Bill de Blasio is still quite unpopular with voters in his one-time City Council district according to a new poll on the 10th Congressional District race from a progressive data firm released Thursday.
The man formerly known as Hizzoner came in at just 5 percent in the poll – first reported by the news site City & State New York – that asked 533 likely Democratic voters about eight of the top contenders in the 15-candidate field. But de Blasio appeared undeterred by his abysmal showing while taking questions at an unrelated press conference in City Hall Park Thursday morning.
“If I had made my decisions based on polls at a similar point in 2009 for public advocate, or 2013 for mayor, I would have just walked away,” de Blasio said. “Polls are decreasingly able to predict what’s going to happen on election day. And on top of that, you have an election that sadly, we all know, is an August election. We are not sure, any of us, who’s going to show up to vote for an August election. So I don’t think this poll tells us a whole lot honestly.”
The poll was conducted by Washington D.C.-based Data for Progress, which according to its website, is a “multidisciplinary group of experts using state-of-the-art techniques in data science to support progressive activists and causes.”
Leading the pack in the poll was City Council member Carlina Rivera (D–Manhattan), with support from 17 percent of likely voters in the new district that includes much of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn neighborhoods like Park Slope and Sunset park. Coming close behind in second and third place were Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou (D–Manhattan) and Dan Goldman – lead counsel for the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump – with 14 and 12 percent respectively.
In the middle of the pack were former U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman with 9 percent, Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon (D–Brooklyn) with 8 percent and U.S. Rep. Mondaire Jones (D–Rockland, Westchester Counties) with 7 percent. Jones came into the race with the most money – a roughly $3 million war chest – following his decision to run in CD10 instead of his current 17th Congressional District, which he ditched after his congressional colleague Sean Patrick Maloney (D–Hudson Valley) declared a run for the seat.
Jones recently moved to Brooklyn from his former home north of the city.
In addition to her strong showing in the poll, Rivera’s campaign also took a victory lap Thursday morning after raising $400,000 during the first campaign finance filing period of the campaign.
“I am extraordinarily grateful for every contribution to this campaign, which is powered by the city where I was born and raised,” Rivera said. “We are running a focused, determined campaign where every dollar counts, and this overwhelming support has put us in an even better position to win this race. Serving my fellow New Yorkers is an incredible honor, and I’m humbled that so many people across the district chose to pitch in to my campaign with a donation. Thanks to this support we have the financial resources to get our message out to every voter, and to make sure everyone knows that there is another primary election happening in August.”
According to a published report, de Blasio raised $509,850 over the first month of campaigning and has $361,000 on hand. Last week, Goldman – who has a national profile as an MSNBC commentator – revealed he’s raised $1.2 million in the campaign so far. The deadline for the Federal Election Commission’s first filing period is Friday July 15.
The primary is slated for Aug. 23. Early voting is from Aug. 13-21.
