Voters gave former Denver Mayor Bill McNichols a cold shoulder at the polls over his handling of the Christmas blizzard of 1982.

Five years later, a 15-inch dump led to a recall drive that briefly threatened Mayor Federico Peña months into his second term.

But even though the city was paralyzed again this winter by a series of snowstorms at the height of the Christmas shopping season, most voters still feel warm and fuzzy about Mayor John Hickenlooper.

A poll conducted by The Kenney Group, a political consulting firm managing his re-election campaign, found that most voters weren't too upset about the city's snow-removal efforts despite angry reactions at the time.

"The pundits and the political observers were a bit out of touch on the snowstorm," said David Kenney, the firm's president.

"They missed it, and the most important question (in the poll) on the snowstorm was how uptight people were personally, and most people weren't," he said. "The public sentiment about the storm didn't match the overheated political rhetoric about it."

The survey also found that 66 percent of voters rated Denver's performance managing snow removal as excellent, good or fair.

Despite the favorable rating, Hickenlooper wasn't satisfied.

"We got hit with a big snowstorm, but I want to get the city to where those numbers are consistently 75 percent in everything we do," the mayor said. "I hold myself and the whole city to a pretty high standard."

The $24,348 poll was paid for by Hickenlooper's re-election campaign. Kenney agreed to share the results at the request of the Rocky Mountain News.

More than icy streets have threatened to cool the city's affection for its mayor.

The design for the city's new centerpiece justice center slipped off track briefly last fall when a high-profile architect resigned in a public spat.

Dust was still settling on the dispute when epic lines confronted tens of thousands of city voters in November as election workers' software failed. But many say they are ready to vote the mayor back into office.

When asked about the May election, 49 percent of respondents said they would definitely vote for Hickenlooper.

"The honeymoon may be over," Kenney said, "but the marriage is off to a very good start."

The mayor's approval rating is 84 percent - 10 percentage points higher than Gov. Bill Ritter, according to the survey.

"The mayor continues to have an astounding relationship with the voters of Denver," Kenney said. "I've not quite ever seen a number like this. Almost half have a 'very favorable' rating."

Hickenlooper, who said he hadn't yet seen the results of the poll, said he doesn't know why he connects well with voters.

"We've always tried to tell the truth, and when we've made mistakes, we've tried to work harder to correct them," he said. "I think that's what most people try to do and maybe that connects with people in some way."

Kenney, who often works for Democratic candidates, said his firm convened two focus groups in conjunction with the poll.

He said they viewed Hickenlooper as "an everyday guy."

"He's viewed as somebody they could invite over to their house or have a beer with," Kenney said.

Among the findings:

• 68 percent believe "things in Denver are generally headed in the right direction."

• 14 percent said education and schools are the most important issues facing Denver.

• 55 percent feel their quality of life is about the same as it was four years ago while 24 percent say it's much or somewhat better.

• 59 percent think local taxes are "about right" compared with the services they receive.

• 62 percent rate Denver's economy as fairly strong, but 43 percent said it's very or somewhat difficult to keep up with their bills.

chacond@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5099

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