New Yorkers Don't Seem Too Thrilled About Possible Presidential Candidate Bill de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks to a small crowd in New Hampshire, for no special reason at all, just a random stop on his progressive policy tour, why do you ask?

Although he has not formally announced a presidential bid, Mayor Bill de Blasio has spent the last few months doing all the things candidates do in the final moments before throwing their hats in the ring. For example: de Blasio, who has no real reason to politic outside of NYC, has been visiting key states with early primaries—New Hampshire, South Carolina (where he flapped his arms to a song performed by a man currently accused of rampant sexual abuse ), and somewhat disastrously, Iowa—taken to the network TV circuit to tout his progressive policies; and declined, on the record, to "rule out" the possibility of a 2020 campaign, without expressly confirming or denying his alleged ambitions.

The specter of President Bill de Blasio has attracted ridicule, from his would-be constituents and from the media—back in January, for example, the NY Times cuttingly said, of BdB's theoretical run, that he "remains an afterthought" in the deepening pool of Democratic candidates, "if he is thought of at all."

Yet none of that has deterred our mayor from coyly glad-handing, a practice that does not sit well with New Yorkers. In a Quinnipiac University poll published Thursday, New York City residents surveyed gave him the lowest score of all the Democratic hopefuls: 48 percent have an unfavorable opinion of de Blasio. And de Blasio's statewide favorability rating is at an all-time low since taking office in 2014, according to Mary Snow, polling analyst for the Quinnipiac University Poll.

To be fair, New Yorkers scored their local politicians low regardless of presidential aspirations: 28 percent of those surveyed have an unfavorable opinion of U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, with 30 percent voicing a favorable opinion. Governor Andrew Cuomo, who says he is not running, scored 33 percent unfavorable among NYC residents; and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who couldn't even if she wanted to, had a 30 percent unfavorable rating in NYC.

Who would New Yorkers prefer? 72 percent of NYC residents have a positive opinion of former Vice President Joe Biden, who has not yet announced but probably will soon. You can get a more in-depth read of the results over at Quinnipiac, but know this: While 78 percent of NYC voters polled found Trump unfavorable, a small but stunning 2 percent said they "hadn't heard enough about him" to decide. Imagine!

Anyway, all the urgings to please, don't have not dampened BdB's apparent aspirations so far: Who knows whether or not seeing them laid out in numeric form will have an effect. What we do know, however, is that he's met at least one person who thinks all of this is a good idea, so. At least he has that.