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It is easy to bash the city's billionaire mayor, but almost half of New Yorkers approve of the job he's doing in office.

About 35 percent think Bloomberg is doing a fair job and 18 percent think he is doing poorly.

Doubtlessly, Bloomberg is one of his own supporters.

"Most cities would love to play our hand," said the mayor.

His approval rating jumped 7 percentage points from last month and the positive vibes may be caused by a perception of how he handled negative events in the city, like Hurricane Irene and the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

"They really placed the mayor in the forefront in a very visible way, and he was able to demonstrate leadership," said NY1/Marist College pollster Lee Miringoff. "I think it was an opportunity for him to sort of give people another look."

Despite more New Yorkers approving of Bloomberg's job performance, 52 percent of the survey's respondents think the city is going in the wrong direction.

Only 42 percent say it is going in the right direction.

The polls show a pretty consistent dissatisfaction with the direction of the city for most of the year.

In a January poll, 53 percent said the city was going in the wrong direction. That decreased to 44 percent in a February poll, rose to 53 percent again in a March poll, and in an August poll was 51 percent.

As for Bloomberg's legacy, over the year roughly 10 percent polled have said he will be one of the best mayors in history.

This month, fewer said he will be one of the worst.

Skeptics and Bloomberg agree on one thing, that New Yorkers will have to wait until 2013 to see how the rest of the mayor's third term plays out.