New York City Warms Up to Its Billionaire Mayor

NEW YORK — Less than two years ago, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was struggling to win New Yorkers’ approval. Most voters did not like the job he was doing. Nearly 60% polled said they wouldn’t want to have Thanksgiving dinner with him.

Today, the billionaire Republican enjoys solid approval ratings from voters in both parties and is expected to thrash his Democratic opponent, Fernando Ferrer, in Tuesday’s mayoral election.

“I think it takes people a while to get used to your style,” Bloomberg, 63, said at a recent Harlem campaign event. “People also think that the city is going in the right direction. We’re not out of the woods yet, but our economy is definitely improving. Maybe that’s the reason.”

The mayor’s willingness to freely spend his own money is another possible explanation for his political turnaround.

Bloomberg has spent $63.8 million, all his own money, and is on track to hit $75 million before the campaign is over. The Ferrer campaign has spent $6.6 million, according to his most recent filing.

As Ferrer shook hands at a Harlem subway stop Tuesday, he insisted he was still in the race. But his dream of forging a winning coalition of blacks, Latinos, white liberals and others appears to be just that.

Despite the fact that registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 5 to 1 here, the most recent surveys show Bloomberg leading Ferrer by as much as 64% to 30%.

“Our campaign is working hard to address the issues facing all New Yorkers,” said the former Bronx Borough president and the first Latino to win the Democratic mayoral nomination. “The difference is, I’m not spending $63 million.”

New Yorkers have seen a blizzard of prime-time television ads lauding Bloomberg’s record in fighting crime, boosting public schools and building housing. Ferrer’s ads appear mainly on cable TV.

The mayor also has bought radio ads in Chinese, Spanish, Korean and many other languages to reach the city’s ethnically diverse electorate. On Tuesday, he plans to deploy thousands of get-out-the-vote volunteers, an operation expected to dwarf Ferrer’s foot soldiers.

Dollars alone, however, cannot explain the mayor’s political gains. Bloomberg is running on a record that includes a 20% drop in violent crime, rising test scores in public schools, new affordable housing and job growth.

“The political graveyards of this country are littered with the tombstones of candidates who spent a fortune on their campaigns but lost,” political consultant Hank Sheinkopf said. “Bloomberg has come on strong because he made a difference in the life of New York. He did so by setting a pragmatic, civilized tone at City Hall.”

If there was one event that solidified Bloomberg’s image as a leader, political experts say, it was when he warned of a terrorist threat against the New York subway system several weeks ago. The mayor came across as being in control, and his poll numbers shot up dramatically.

Ferrer, who had been trying to focus attention on traditional Democratic issues, such as poverty, was eclipsed.

“People are less worried about symbols and party labels now, and Bloomberg understands this,” said Ronnie Eldridge, a veteran activist who has urged other Democrats to support the Republican mayor. “We need results, not rhetoric, at City Hall.”

From the start, Bloomberg’s campaign has focused on winning over Democrats. In the latest Quinnipiac poll, 50% of the city’s registered Democrats said they backed the mayor.

“Fiorello LaGuardia, the great Republican mayor of New York, used to say there was no Democratic or Republican way to pick up the garbage,” political consultant Joseph Mercurio said. “That’s a good illustration of Bloomberg’s success.”

New Yorkers traditionally have warmed to mayors with brash, outgoing styles. Those who brought a mixture of charisma and theatrics to the job -- including Rudolph W. Giuliani, Edward I. Koch and John V. Lindsay -- won their reelection bids. Mayors David N. Dinkins and Abraham D. Beame, largely viewed as colorless politicians, were sent packing after one term.

For his first two years in office, Bloomberg seemed destined for that category.

Many saw the mayor, who built a successful media company before entering politics, as stiff and distant -- a man incapable of understanding average New Yorkers. He flew off in his private jet to Europe and Bermuda; he often sounded argumentative and imperious during exchanges with the media.

A New England native, Bloomberg’s nasal accent grated in New York. He was booed at ballgames and other events.

“Bloomberg realized he had to fight back against that image, but he tried to do it by getting things done,” said Maurice Carroll, who runs the Quinnipiac Polling Institute. “Even if New Yorkers didn’t like him personally, they couldn’t help but notice his record.”

During the mayor’s first term, crime fell 20%.

He wrested control of the troubled public school system from the board of education, putting his own people in charge. The city’s high school graduation rate continues to hover around 50%, but fourth-grade reading and math scores are up.

Elsewhere, the mayor has launched economic development plans that could significantly change the face of New York. His administration has backed proposals for new housing along Brooklyn’s abandoned waterfront, and he is supporting a plan to build more than 500,000 affordable housing units throughout the city.

Even one of Bloomberg’s worst setbacks -- his failure to win the 2012 Olympics and secure a new sports stadium on Manhattan’s far west side -- had a silver lining. He won approval for a massive rezoning of the largely undeveloped area, which could pave the way for business and residential construction.

Critics remain dubious about Bloomberg, saying he has no clear vision or ideological heft.

“I think the man is a mediocrity at best,” said Fred Siegel, a history professor and author of “The Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York and the Genius of American Life.” But Bloomberg “is clearly more in tune with New York than his opponent.”

Ferrer, 55, rose through the Democratic Party ranks in the Bronx. He has been endorsed by many leading Democrats, including former President Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. But his campaign has been plagued by mistakes.

In March, he told the Sergeants Benevolent Assn. that he didn’t think the four white New York police officers who shot Amadou Diallo 41 times had committed a crime. Diallo, an unarmed West African peddler, was confronted in 1999 by police who mistook him for a rape suspect. When he reached for his wallet, police shot and killed him.

Ferrer has apologized, calling the comments “a mistake.” Still, he angered many blacks who might have backed him. He has campaigned on the theme that there are “two New Yorks” under Bloomberg -- one for the rich, the other for the poor.

“I think [Ferrer] is a nice guy,” said Anthony Taylor, a black charity worker and volunteer who watched the Democrat campaign in Harlem. “But he got too slick with that Diallo stuff. He tried to play us. I don’t think I’ll support him.”

Others Ferrer supporters are more hopeful.

“I wouldn’t count on polls to predict the outcome,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who has endorsed Ferrer. “But I think it’s clear to anyone that we have a big uphill battle ahead of us.”