What to Know Mayor Bill de Blasio's approval ratings hit a 17-month high after the Chelsea bombing

Three in five polled NYC voters approve of the way he handled the bombings last month

De Blasio holds a double-digit lead over all comers in next year's mayoral race

New York voters support Mayor Bill de Blasio's handling of last month's Chelsea bombings, driving his overall approval ratings to a 17-month high, according to a new Wall Street Journal / NBC 4 New York / Marist Poll.

Perhaps more importantly for the mayor as he prepares to face the voters in 2017, the percentage of those who said he deserves to be re-elected rose sharply, and he now holds a 20-point lead over any other option in the Democratic primary.

Some 40 percent of New York City registered voters who participated in the poll think the mayor is doing an "excellent" or "good" job, up 5 points from his all-time low in May 2016 and his best showing since May 2015.

"New Yorkers give the mayor his top grade for his handling of the recent bombing incident in Chelsea," Lee Miringoff, the director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, said in a statement.

Though de Blasio was criticized for his initial hesitance to call the Chelsea bombings an act of terrorism, Marist found 60 percent of polled voters approved of his handling of the episode.

De Blasio's support among white voters is basically unchanged, Marist found, but a four-point gain among African American voters and a 10-point gain in the Latino community boosted his approval numbers.

RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Half of polled voters now say he deserves to be re-elected, up eight points from a year ago.

Given six options for next year's Democratic primary, 42 percent supported de Blasio. "Undecided' was next at 22 percent, followed by former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn at 12 percent, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. at 9 percent each, and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries at 7 percent.

He leads with virtually every demographic - regardless of how it is split - with the exception of white voters, where "Undecided" bests him by two points.

In a head-to-head matchup, de Blasio beats real estate executive Paul Massey by 42 percentage points. Massey has declared his intention to run as a Republican next year. The mayor also beats Massey in every age, race, gender or borough breakdown.

Voters are also giving de Blasio the benefit of the doubt on corruption despite a still-brewing scandal over his fundraising practices. Some 47 percent of adults said his administration was working to stop corruption in the city, against 32 percent who felt he was adding to the problem.

The telephone survey of adults ages 18 and up, speaking either English or Spanish, was conducted Sept. 27 to Sept. 29. Marist surveyed 1,094 adults, of whom 799 were registered voters. The margin of error was 3.5 percentage points.