PROVIDENCE -- Mayor David N. Cicilline's popularity statewide continues to slide.

A Brown University poll released today shows that the two-term mayor's approval rating has dropped 13 percentage points since last year.

The results of the poll, conducted by the university's Taubman Center for Public Policy, come as Cicilline prepares to make his annual State of the City address at the Rhode Island Convention Center tonight.

The Brown poll marks the lowest approval rating for Cicilline, who is halfway through his second term.

It is the first taken in the wake of some recent difficulties in Cicilline's administration, including a tax bill scandal involving his brother, John, a now disbarred lawyer serving time in federal prison, questions raised in the national media about the potential use of federal stimulus money for a polar bear exhibit at the Roger Williams Park Zoo, and abuses in the Department of Public Works that led to the suspensions of three city workers.

Over the past two years, Cicilline, who is generally regarded as candidate for the governor's office in 2010, has seen his approval ratings steadily decline.

Brown University's survey in September 2007 found that 64 percent of state residents approved of the job Cicilline was doing in Providence. By February 2008, that number had dropped to 51 percent. And in September 2008, his popularity fell to 46 percent.