Informal Survey: 55 Percent of New Yorkers Can Pick Joe Lhota Out of Lineup, 50 Percent Bill De Blasio

Despite months of campaigning

Not so long before they became the city's two major-party nominees for mayor, Bill de Blasio and Joe Lhota were largely unknown. Most New Yorkers could have walked right past Lhota or De Blasio on the street, bumped into them on the subway, or yelled "I'm walkin' here! Fuggedaboutit!" at them without even realizing it. But after months and months of TV ads, campaign literature, articles in the local press, and segments on the nightly newscasts, we wanted to know just how recognizable these mayoral hopefuls had become. So we sent out intern Anna Silman to see whether 100 New Yorkers could pick Lhota and De Blasio out of a lineup of somewhat-similar-looking people. As it turns out, many of them could not.