12 Is Enough? Voters Don't Want 4th Term for Bloomie, Poll Finds

Looks like 12 is the magic number.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg won a third term, but voters don't want him around for a fourth, according to a new poll.
       
The Quinnipiac University survey finds 58 percent of respondents say they would not vote for him if he ran again, while 22 percent would.

"Mayor forever? New Yorkers gave Mayor Mike a third term but now they say, 'Enough is enough!'" said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "On the other hand, about a third say 'yes,' or it depends on who's running against him. So..."
       
The billionaire mayor was barred from running for a third term until he persuaded the City Council to change term-limits law. He won last year by fewer than five points -- a smaller margin than expected.

Team Bloomberg tried to downplay the term-limits issue throughout the campaign -- a move designed to detract attention from voter frustration about a law being changed to suit the mayor's ambition.

Voters still favor term limits 70 percent to 22 percent according to today's poll. Asked another way, 55 percent set the limit at two terms; 17 percent at three terms and 5 percent at four terms. 
       
The poll released Tuesday wasn't all bad news for Bloomberg. His approval rating remains at 61 percent, unchanged from a poll in February. Except for attorneys general, who don't have to make tax and spending decisions, Bloomberg enjoys the highest approval for any elected official in any state surveyed by Quinnipiac this year.

By contrast, Gov. David Paterson's poll numbers remain dismal, with a mere 23 percent saying they approve of the way he's handling his job. Still, more than two thirds of voters polled say the governor should complete his term, which wraps up Dec. 31, rather than resign in the wake of a series of scandals clouding his administration.

"Gov. David Paterson's job approval tanks even in overwhelmingly Democratic New York City," Carroll noted. "But voters aren't calling for the governor to step down."

Quinnipiac surveyed 819 New York City registered voters from March 15 to Sunday. The poll had a plus or minus 3.4 percentage point margin of error.