For The Record

Results of a new poll showing an equal number of city residents (44 percent) disapprove of Mayor de Blasio’s job performance as think he’s doing well, and that by a six-point margin they don’t believe he deserves re-election are not necessarily a bell tolling for his mayoralty, given that Michael Bloom­berg in the summer of his second year in office had just 31 percent of those surveyed giving him a thumbs-up.

But Mr. Bloom­berg’s low standing at the time of that Quinnipiac University poll in July 2003 was largely due to a backlash over the 18.5-percent hike in property taxes he had pushed through and his tough anti-smoking regulations coupled with a hefty city tax on cigarettes. Public opinion began to swing in his favor as good service performance in areas like crime and education made people realize the tax had been preferable to massive layoffs and nonsmokers grew to appreciate the smoking crackdown’s impact on quality of life.