NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Mayor Bill de Blasio, who continues to weigh a possible White House bid, is heading to South Carolina to meet with the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
The mayor and his wife, First Lady Chirlane McCray, are scheduled to head to the early primary state Saturday and attend a roundtable discussion on criminal justice issues.
De Blasio has not announced that his is running for president, but has not ruled out a run.
Though, if the mayor is hoping for a home-field advantage in a possible bid for the presidency, public opinion suggests he should reconsider.
According to WCBS 880’s Rich Lamb, a recent Marist poll found that among New York’s Democrats, only 25 percent would be happy is the mayor became the Democratic presidential nominee. Meanwhile, 65 percent said they’d be unhappy.
Though, de Blasio said the poll isn’t hindering his considerations.
“I have not ruled anything out and I will tell you what I believe about polling – ‘cause I’ve experienced it so many times – I have perennially been an underdog in any race I’ve been in. It does not matter where you start, it matters where you end. That's the bottom line,” he told reporters.
The mayor also noted that he’s been through many instances where the polling at the beginning of the process was very different from the end result.