Underdog GOP mayoral candidate Joe Lhota is shrugging off a poll that puts him way behind Democrat Bill de Blasio at the start of the general-election campaign.
“Nothing’s insurmountable,” declared an upbeat Lhota while stumping outside the Lexington Avenue/77th Street subway station Wednesday morning. “I will vigorously prosecute this campaign forward, and you’ll see my numbers rise. I will work to make sure the people of the city understand who I am. I will make sure the people understand who Bill de Blasio is.”
Lhota has his work cut out for him, according to a Wall Street Journal-WNBC/Channel 4-Marist College poll that shows him getting just 22 percent of the vote to de Blasio’s 65 percent.
At the subway stop, Lhota was joined by Manhattan Republican Party Chairman Dan Isaacs, who backed John Catsimatidis in the GOP primary.
Lhota also got some kind words from his former boss, Democrat Gov. Cuomo, who is backing de Blasio.
“I appointed Joe Lhota to head the MTA and I think he did a good job in that capacity,” Cuomo said during a press conference on Long Island.
De Blasio’s own Democratic primary campaign victory provides a glimmer of hope for his underdog rival
The public advocate was at 15 percent in the polls July 24. He ended up winning the primary Sept. 10 with more than 40 percent of the vote.
But even veteran GOP strategists said Lhota’s challenge is daunting.
“The real question is: Can Lhota raise the money to make a run? It’s a tough, tough task,” said Republican consultant Ed Rollins, who was President Ronald Reagan’s campaign chairman.
De Blasio, meanwhile, kept rolling up heavyweight endorsements.
Bill and Hillary Clinton issued a joint statement backing de Blasio and praising his “thoughtful, creative” primary campaign.
The United Federation of Teachers also voted to put its might behind de Blasio on Wednesday night after supporting Bill Thompson in the primary.
“We should expect a negative campaign,” de Blasio told cheering UFT delegates. “We’re not gonna be baited, we’re not gonna be intimidated, we’re not gonna be thrown off our game.”
He received thunderous applause when he touted his plan to raise income taxes on the wealthy to finance more pre-kindergarten and after-school programs, which would provide more jobs to the union’s members.