Mike DeBonis reports that (I think he's had enough initial scandals that we can call him "embattled") D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray isn't getting very high marks just a few months into his tenure. The racial divide is particularly stark, with only 17 percent of whites approving. Here are some of the highlights from the poll, conducted by Clarus Research Group:
Gray does better among African Americans (42%) than whites (17%). He also does better among Democrats (32%) than non-Democrats (25%). From a regional standpoint, his approval rating is higher in the area of the city that comprises wards 4, 5, 7, and 8 (42%) than it is in the area comprising wards 1, 2, 3, and 6 (21%). Gray does worst among white men (12%) and best among black women (43%).
Along with the poll, Clarus released a statement from Clarus President Ron Faucheux noting that Gray's "job approval is much lower than Mayor [Adrian] Fenty's job rating was throughout most of his term."
You have to wonder how much of Gray's approval rating among whites is actually due to Gray's recent troubles, and how much of it is due to the simplistic perception that the last election was a culture clash between the city's dwindling black majority and the city's growing white professional class. That perception was hardly Gray's fault, but I think he's probably paying a political price for it. Rather than settling the issue, D.C.'s last mayoral election may have simply brought to the forefront a lasting element of the city's racial identity politics that will be with us for a long time. I wouldn't exactly call it a "new" element, but it's certainly more prevalent now than it used to be.
