To judge by a Quinnipiac poll released yesterday, New Yorkers aren’t exactly jumping with joy over the arrival in New York of Republicans from around the country for the Republican National Convention. The poll, of 822 registered voters in New York, found that 70% of them disapprove of the way President Bush is handling his job, that 50% are worried about the convention being held here, that 41% are annoyed that the convention is being held here. Of those polled, 10% said that they plan to leave New York during the convention and another 11% said they plan to take part in demonstrations.

But there is another statistic buried in the poll, and that is that 77% of New Yorkers said that they think New Yorkers will be good hosts during the convention week. That “good hosts” number was strong across every borough, and across every political, racial, and gender category in the poll. What it suggests to us is that while New Yorkers may grumble about the security measures, the terrorist threats, and the traffic and transit delays, while they may differ with Mr. Bush on some issues and wish he had done some things differently, there is a reservoir of warmth in New York for the guests who will be arriving this weekend and staying through next week.

Why will we New Yorkers be good hosts? One reason is that a lot of us were in this city on September 11, 2001. We remember the terrorist attacks and appreciate President Bush’s leadership in trying to make us safer by bringing the fight to the enemy and dismantling terrorist spawning regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Another reason is that a lot of us remember the economic downturn the city was in after the puncturing of the Clinton economic bubble. President Bush’s tax cuts have helped bring the city – particularly the financial sector – back to health.

So we’d caution the visiting Republicans not to mistake the protesters they may encounter as representative of the sentiments of all New Yorkers. One of the protesters arrested yesterday was from Dallas, another was from Oakland, Calif. A lot of the people out protesting Mr. Bush and the Iraq War this weekend were protesting President Clinton’s free trade policies in Seattle in 1999 and were in the streets protesting American actions in Bosnia and Kosovo during the Clinton administration. It is not Mr. Bush or Republicans whom they oppose, but capitalism and the use of American military power, even for the most enlightened aim. They have a right to protest peacefully. But if they make the mistake of trying violence, the New York Police will show the visiting Republicans why New York is such a safe city.

The visiting Republicans can also know that the city that is so allegedly hostile to their arrival has elected Republican mayors three times in a row. The people of New York are open to a Republican message and will be listening carefully, not just to the protests of the convention, but to the program inside.