Facing a massive deficit in the polls, Joe Lhota plans to be on the attack in the second New York City mayoral debate, which doubles as one of his last chances to start a comeback that could topple front runner Bill de Blasio.

Lhota, a Republican and one-time deputy mayor to Rudolph Giuliani, was trailing de Blasio by 44 points in a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday, the day before the second of three general election debates. That marks a slight improvement from the 50 point deficit he faced in the last Quinnipiac poll, which was released Oct. 3, but Lhota is rapidly running out of time before voters go to the polls Nov. 5.

He plans to be aggressive from the start of the debate against de Blasio, who he will try to paint as inexperienced, particularly when enforcing public safety. That had been his plan last week during the first debate, but Lhota was caught off guard by de Blasio, who eschewed the passive, non-confrontational tone he’d adopted since becoming the Democratic nominee and immediately went on the attack.

Since then, however, Lhota has ratcheted up his rhetoric and released a harrowing ad that suggested that a de Blasio administration would take the city back to its crime-filled past. He followed that up be releasing a web video Monday that uses clips of de Blasio’s primary opponents criticizing the public advocate.

Meanwhile, de Blasio has responded by releasing a pair of upbeat ads, one featuring his 19-year-old daughter, and another that was filled with shots of everyday New Yorkers and does not include an image of the candidate.

The hour-long debate will air live on television and is sponsored by WCBS, El Diario, several radio stations and the city’s campaign finance board. It will not include any independent candidates.

Their third and final debate is scheduled for Oct. 29. The new Quinnipiac poll surveyed 973 likely voters and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

(AP)