Mayor Michael Bloomberg's approval rating among voters remains below 50 percent, at 44 percent, according to a new NY1-Marrist Poll. The mayor's standing among New Yorkers was about the same last March--46 percent--when Marist last asked voters about the mayor's job performance. Bloomberg had seen his popularity spike last September thanks to his efforts during tropical storm Irene. In a Quinnipiac poll at the time, 54 percent of voters approved of the way Bloomberg was handling his job.

One of the candidates who will likely run to replace Mayor Bloomberg next year continues to dominate the field of Democratic rivals.

City Council Speaker, in her best showing to date, was backed by 32 percent of those polled, giving her a 20-point lead over the nearest mayoral contender, former New York City Comptroller and 2009 Democratic mayoral candidate Bill Thompson. This is a ten-point improvement for Quinn from the last Marist poll in September of last year.

The current city comptroller, John Liu, continued to struggle in the polls. He dropped from his September double-digit support into fourth place with 9 percent, behind a consistent Bill de Blasio, the city's public advocate, whose 10 percent of support from those polled was the same as in September.