Underꦡdog 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 peopl꧒e 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 tha♕t shows him getting just 22 percent of th🌸e vote to de Blasio’s 65 percent.
At the subway stop, Lhota was joined by Manhattan Republican Party Chairman Dan Is🎉aacs, who backed John Catsimatidis in the GOP primary.
Lhota also got some kind words from his former boss, Democrat Gov. Cuomo, whoᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ♊ᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ 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 pr🀅ess conference on Long Island.
De Blasio’s own Democratic primary campa🔯ign 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 Lhಞota’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 campaig꧙n chairman.
De Blasio, meanwhile, kept rolling up heavyweight en💜do🍌rsements.
Bill and Hillary C🔜linton 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 Wednesda🐽y night after supporting Bill Thompson in the primary.
“We should expect a negative campaign,” de Blasio told cheering UFT delegates. “We’re ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚnot gonna be baited, we’re not gonna be intimidated, we’re not gonna be thrown off our game.”
He receive🌳d 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.