Poll: Few in City Want Bloomberg White House

A majority of New York City voters say Mayor Bloomberg would make a good president, though few want to him to make a bid, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released yesterday.

Some 52% of respondents said Mr. Bloomberg would make a good president, while only 16% said they would like him to run.

The director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, Maurice Carroll, said he doesn't think Mr. Bloomberg has decided yet whether to run for president.

"I know that what he is doing and what his people are doing is a perfect preliminary, if he decides to run," he said. "I would guess that that decision will not even be addressed until February 6," the day after more than 20 states hold presidential primaries.

Mr. Bloomberg's latest approval rating stands at 73%, and a majority of voters, 61%, said the mayor has a "moral obligation" to serve out his four-year term as mayor.

If Mr. Bloomberg does run for president as an independent, 34% of city voters said they will definitely or probably vote for him, with 58% saying they are unlikely to support him at the polls.

A greater proportion of voters back a Bloomberg run for governor. Some 70% said Mr. Bloomberg would make a good governor, and 47% said they would like him to run, according to the poll.

Mr. Bloomberg said yesterday he is not a candidate for president or governor.

Other findings from the poll: 60% of voters approve of Raymond Kelly's job performance as police commissioner, up from 55% in November. The speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, and Comptroller William Thompson Jr. each have an approval rating of 48%. Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum has a 44% approval rating, and the schools chancellor, Joel Klein, has a 40% approval rating.

The poll surveyed 1,162 city voters between January 3 and January 7.