NEW YORK – Most New Yorkers view Mayor Michael Bloomberg as "cold and businesslike," but he still tops rival Democratic mayoral candidates in his bid for a third term, a survey found on Tuesday.
Quinnipiac University's survey said voters were split "almost evenly" on whether the mayor is too rich to understand so-called common folk. Bloomberg, an independent who hopes to run on the Republican ballot in November, became a billionaire by founding his eponymous financial data company.
"New Yorkers don't warm up to Mayor Mike, but they give him high marks for doing his job," Maurice Carroll, director of the university's polling institute, said in a statement.
Bloomberg responded by saying he did not find "anything warm and fuzzy" about the risks New Yorkers face -- from losing their homes and jobs to the prospect of declining city tax revenues.
"I don't get the sense in the street that people are any less friendly than they were, I am what I am," he told reporters at a news conference.
By a margin of 54 to 34 percent, the 1,142 voters surveyed approved of the way the former bond-trader-turned-businessman is handling the city budget. New York City faces budget gaps as large as $28 billion over the next several years, mostly due to Wall Street's near collapse.
The economy was the most important issue determining voters' preferences, 52 percent of those surveyed told the pollsters. Education was second priority, at 21 percent, followed by mass transit at 10 percent and taxes at 9 percent. Crime ranked lowest, at 5 percent, according to the survey, which had a 2.9 percentage point margin of error.
Bloomberg would beat Democratic Comptroller William Thompson by 49 percent to 35 percent if the election were held now, the March 17-22 survey found. U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, another Democrat, signaled he will stay in Congress and not run for mayor, but he would lose to Bloomberg by about the same margin, 46 to 36 percent, said the Hamden, Connecticut-based university's poll institute.
Voters approved of term limits by a 68 to 25 percent majority -- but still want Bloomberg to run for a third term. A 62 to 31 percent majority want the two-term limit restored after the November elections. In October the city council voted to extend the term limit, allowing Bloomberg to run for a third term.
The mayor wants the state to let him keep control of the city's schools, and most parents agree, but by a 53 percent to 37 percent margin they want him to share control with the City Council, the survey said.
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