New Yorkers back Bloomberg over Giuliani in poll

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks during the GOP presidential candidates debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, in this May 3, 2007, file photo. Giuliani, under fire from conservatives for his support of abortion rights, defended his views on Friday but said there were other important issues in the 2008 White House race.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City voters would prefer current Mayor Michael Bloomberg over former Mayor Rudy Giuliani for president of the United States, according to a poll published in the New York Daily News on Monday.

Forty-six percent of those polled said Bloomberg would make a better president than Giuliani while 29 percent chose Giuliani over Bloomberg, according to the poll conducted for the Daily News by Blum & Weprin Associates.

By an even greater margin -- 56 percent to 29 percent -- those surveyed said Bloomberg was a better mayor than Giuliani, who was widely praised for his leadership following the September 11 attacks.

The poll surveyed 503 registered voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

Giuliani is seeking the Republican nomination for president and Bloomberg repeatedly has said he has no plans to enter the race. However, speculation refuses to die that Bloomberg, a billionaire former Democrat who ran for mayor as a Republican in 2001, might self-finance an independent campaign.

Should Bloomberg decide to run, Republican Sen. Chuck Hegel of Nebraska suggested the two of them might make a good ticket.

"It's a great country to think about -- a New York boy and a Nebraska boy to be teamed up leading this nation," Hagel told the CBS television show "Face the Nation" on Sunday. He did not say who should lead the ticket.

Bloomberg succeeded Giuliani as mayor, winning election in 2001 shortly after the September 11 attacks. He was re-elected in 2005.