Full of bad news for Mayor Bloomberg is how one would have to describe that poll of New York City residents released Wednesday by Quinnipiac University. While some, such as the New York Post, saw the trend disclosed by the poll as one of a racial division — blacks and Hispanics proved less enamored of the mayor than did whites — the real pattern that presented itself was the widespread opposition of New Yorkers, of all stripes, to Mr. Bloomberg’s high-tax policies. With the majority of New Yorkers saying they would at this point vote for an unnamed Democrat before they’d vote for Mr. Bloomberg, this is news.

On the whole, 59% of New Yorkers told Quinnipiac that they disapproved of, as the poll posed the question, “the way Michael Bloomberg is handling taxes.” Only 32% approved. Broken down by race, 50% of whites disapproved, 64% of blacks disapproved, and 74% of Hispanics disapproved. These are remarkable numbers. And lest anyone claim that disapproval here might mean that the respondents didn’t think Mr. Bloomberg raised taxes enough to increase services, it’s worth noting that the wording of the question only asked about taxes. Other questions disclosed no bias for higher taxes or more spending. Only 30% of New Yorkers called Mr. Bloomberg too conservative, and 54% disapproved of the way Mr. Bloomberg has handled the budget — i.e., holding spending steady while raising taxes.

Mr. Bloomberg’s unpopularity on the tax issue has manifested itself in at least one other recent incident. In the hotly contested — and still undecided — race to succeed Martin Golden in the City Council’s 43rd District, Mr. Bloomberg decided to keep his support for the Republican candidate, Rosemarie O’Keefe, under the radar. As our J.P. Avlon reported yesterday, the mayor poured money and troops into the race, but you wouldn’t have known it as a casual observer. We sent a reporter out to cover Ms. O’Keefe on the campaign trail on the Sunday before the election. Her aides ran down an extensive list of Ms. O’Keefe’s endorsers to our reporter that day, but not once, in an extensive list of names and organizations and political parties, did they mention the mayor of the City of New York, who had made a public endorsement.

It does not bode well for the mayor that he should be so toxic, even in the relatively conservative community of Bay Ridge where Ms. O’Keefe was campaigning. The idea has been floated more than once that Mr. Bloomberg should switch to the Democratic Party. The speaker of the City Council has encouraged such an outcome. The better strategy would be for the mayor to ditch the policies that have aroused so much ire and to fight for the tax relief the citizens are calling for and for which he, after all, campaigned in the first place.