Voter Approval of Mayor Adams Decreases, as Crime Continues to Soar

By Yehudit Garmaise

Mayor Eric Adams sailed to victory last summer on his oft-repeated claim that “public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity,” however, violent crime and chaos have mostly continued to spike since he took office on Jan. 1.

According to a poll released yesterday by Quinnipiac University, New Yorkers’ overall job approval of the mayor decreased from 46% in February to 43%, three months later. 

The poll’s respondents, however, showed confidence in Gov. Kathy Hochul, who received a 50% approval rating: the highest rating of any NYC official received.

“Mayor Adams gets a positive score on his job performance, but it’s tepid,” said Quinnipiac Poll analyst Mary Snow. “The biggest weight on his numbers: crime. It’s by far the most urgent issue, and voters are holding him accountable.” 

According to the new poll, crime concerns 49% of city voters, while only 15% of respondents cited affordable housing as their top issue, and only 12% prioritized homelessness.

In February, 49% of voters gave Adams a thumbs-up for his ideas and plans to restore safety and order to the city, on Wednesday, only 37% of voters approved of Adams’ handling of crime.

Adams spokesman Fabien Levy, responded to the poll’s findings by pointing out that the mayor’s many large-scale changes in policies and NYPD practices will take time to succeed.

“Reducing crime in the city won’t happen overnight,” Levy told the New York Post, while citing the successes of Adams’ new anti-gun unit, which just launched on March 14 and adding that as of the April statistics the NYPD released on Wednesday: homicides, shootings, and hate crimes decreased.

“Mayor Adams is laser-focused on reversing the failures of the previous administration, while fighting back against failed reforms to the state’s justice system and irresponsible laws that flood our city with out-of-state guns.”