Poll: Bloomberg Up 15, But Not Because Of His Ads

Mayor Bloomberg has widened his lead over Comptroller Bill Thompson by five percentage points since last month, but New Yorkers are split on whether his barrage of TV ads are “annoying” or “informative.” Bloomberg vs. Thompson now stands at 50-35, compared to 47-37 in July.

For comparison’s sake, the long shot Democratic candidate, Councilman Tony Avella, is trailing Bloomberg, 55-28, even though 81 percent of those polled said they haven’t heard enough about the Queens lawmaker to form an opinion of him.

So it’s a fair assumption that the built-in Democratic vote in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 5 to 1 is somewhere in that neighborhood.

Bloomberg is ahead among Republicans (76-13) and independents (54-28), while – a particularly bad sign for Thompson – Democrats are split 44-44.

White voters prefer the mayor, 61-25; as do Hispanic voters, 50-36; while blacks are with Thompson, 48-39.

Thompson’s favorable/unfavorable rating is 38-10, with 51 percent still saying they don’t know enough about him.

Bloomberg is at 65-31, with 2 percent needing more information. His job performance rating is 66-28, compared to Thompson’s 52-10. Thirty-eight percent don’t know or were undecided on the comptroller, compared to just two percent on the mayor.

Seventy-eight percent of New Yorkers say they’ve seen Bloomberg’s TV ads – up from 57 percent last month. Only 64 percent say the barrage is going to influence their vote this fall, and 47 percent said they find the ads “annoying,” while 41 percent consider them “informative.”

Fifty-nine percent said they agree Bloomberg’s self-funded campaign spending – $37 million and counting – is “overkill”.

“Mayor Mike might be wasting his money on that zillion-dollar TV buy,” said Q pollster Mickey Carroll.

{NY Daily News/Matzav.com Newscenter}