Maybe he should stop taking orders from Al Sharpton.
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton’s approval rating is in the toilet at 47 percent — compared with predecessor Ray Kelly’s stellar 75 percent rating when the use of stop-and-frisk was near its peak, according to a Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday.
Quinnipiac University polling expert Mickey Carroll pointed the finger at Sharpton and Mayor de Blasio for their constant criticism of the NYPD and its stop-and-frisk policy.
“Sharpton is a polarizing figure, very divisive and he has a high profile now,” Carroll said.
“When de Blasio ran, he was knocking stop-and-frisk, and then [Eric] Garner got killed on Staten Island in a [police] chokehold,” Carroll told The Post.
A law-enforcement source also said Sharpton has had a major influence on de Blasio.
“He’s part of the framework of the de Blasio administration. Under Kelly and [ex-Mayor Mike] Bloomberg, Sharpton couldn’t get to first base. He was a non-entity. Now he’s palling around with Obama at the White House. And he’s very anti-cop, as we all know,” the source said.
The source also cited the embarrassing “summit” at City Hall on July 31, when Sharpton sat on a dais and lectured Bratton and de Blasio about police policy.
“He sat in with the mayor and police commissioner during that press conference and he embarrassed [Bratton], telling him how to run his department essentially,” the source said.
In a Quinnipiac poll released in January 2013, Kelly scored his highest approval rating ever, 75 percent, when stop-and-frisk was still a major tactic.
In the new poll, 35 percent of voters disapproved of Bratton.
While Bratton’s popularity rating is the lowest for an NYPD commissioner in 12 years, New Yorkers had a more positive view of the police, approving of the job cops are doing citywide by 54 percent to 39 percent.
And huge percentages of voters of all races still believe crime is a big problem, despite record- low rates for murder and many other offenses.
A total of 86 percent of New York City voters, including 82 percent of whites, 87 percent of blacks and 93 percent of Hispanics, say crime is a “very serious” or “somewhat serious” problem, the poll found.
The de Blasio administration defended Bratton.
“Mayor de Blasio knows that Commissioner Bratton is the finest police leader around, and he is working with the commissioner and the NYPD to continue to bring police and community together, while also keeping New York City the safest big city in the world,” spokesman Phil Walzak said.
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