The verdict is in: New Yorkers really don’t like Pat Lynch and they really, really don’t like cops turning their backs on the Mayor at police funerals.
I’ve written a number of pieces recently on the war between the NYPD – or at least major elements of it – and Mayor de Blasio. As I’ve written, my major question has been, where do New Yorkers fit in? Now we have New Yorkers verdict – a new poll out from Quinnipiac. And New Yorkers have a resoundingly negative verdict on the back turning and the general behavior of the NYPD leadership over recent weeks.
New York City voters disapprove of police officers turning their backs on the Mayor at police funerals by 69% to 27%. 77% think police union President Pay Lynch’s “blood on his hands” remarks were “too extreme” and no racial or gender subset of the population considers the comments “appropriate.”
Though there are big differences across the city’s racial groups 47% of New Yorkers say de Blasio’s actions since he began his run for Mayor show he supports the city’s police. 37% say the opposite.
Finally 52% of New Yorkers (versus 38%) says police discipline has broken down.
Pat Lynch is deeply unpopular, an accolade he shares with Al Sharpton.
Voters give Patrolmen’s Benevolent Assn. President Patrick Lynch a negative 18 – 39 percent favorability rating and say 43 – 27 percent that he is a mostly negative force in the city.
Rev. Al Sharpton gets a negative 29 – 53 percent favorability, his lowest score ever, and voters say 51 – 37 percent that he is a mostly negative force in the city, also his worst score.
None of this is to say that New Yorkers are anti-police or disapprove of the NYPD. Quite the contrary. 56% of all New Yorkers approve of the job city police are doing. (White: 66%; Hispanic 54%; Black 41%) Notably, 71% of New Yorkers (a big majority) approve the job police are doing in their own community.
As I would expect, the majority of New Yorkers approve of the job the NYPD is doing. But in their revolt against the Mayor, the popular verdict is clear. The public doesn’t like it at all.
