[caption id=”attachment_112344″ align=”aligncenter” width=”682″]Image via AP/Mark Lennihan
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In a poll gauging police-community relations in New York City since the murder of two police officers last month, Quinnipiac University found that New Yorkers overwhelmingly disapprove of officers turning their backs to the mayor, but also slam Rev. Al Sharpton’s and police union leader Patrick Lynch’s behavior.
The poll, released Thursday, found that 69 percent of black, white, and Hispanic New York City voters disapprove of the police officers turning their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio at funerals for slain police officers.
“Even cop-friendly Staten Island gives that rude gesture only a split decision,” said Quinnipiac University Poll Assistant Director Maurice Carroll. It was a Staten Island grand jury, remember, that declined to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner. According to an earlier Quinnipiac University poll, only 41 percent of Staten Island residents supported bringing charges against the officer.
In the poll, Lynch’s comments that the mayor’s office had blood on its hands were “too extreme” for 77 percent of the voters. According to Quinnipiac, no political affiliation, gender, racial, borough, or age group found the comments “appropriate.”
Sharpton also fared poorly.
Only 29 percent of voters viewed Sharpton favorably, while 53 percent viewed him unfavorably. Fifty-one percent of voters say he “is a mostly negative force in the city,” the first time a majority of voters have viewed Sharpton this way.
Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,182 New York City voters from January 7 – 14. The margin of error is +/-2.9 percentage points.
Other highlights from the poll:
