Poll: Mayor Nutter is popular. Who knew?

Catherine Lucey at PhillyClout alerts us to surprising news:

A new poll shows that 53 percent of Philadelphians approve of Mayor Nutter’s job performance as mayor, compared with 32 percent who disapprove.

Wait for it…

Residents are evenly split when you ask about Nutter’s ability to manage the budget, with 47 percent showing confidence in his skills and 46 percent lacking confidence. And Nutter continues to receive lower ratings from black residents, than white residents — just 43 percent of black Philadelphians say he’s doing a good job, compared with 65 percent of white residents. While just 21 percent of white residents disapprove of Nutter’s performance, 43 percent of black residents disapprove.

So we like the mayor. We just don’t like how he’s handling one of the most important parts of his job — the part, in fact, that has received the most public attention over the last two years. Why the disconnect?