NEW YORK, June 26 (UPI) -- Even though New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he's not running for president, the independent received healthy recognition in a national poll.
In the CNN-Opinion Research Corporation telephone poll of 1,029 U.S. residents, the recently declared independent Bloomberg ranked third after Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Clinton scored 49 percent approval among Democrats, Giuliani logged 48 percent among Republicans, while Bloomberg got 17 percent approval from the total pool, the poll said.
That nearly matches the 19 percent of the vote independent Ross Perot got the first time he ran in 1992, the report said.
However, Bloomberg noted to CNN that both Clinton and Giuliani are from New York in the 2008 presidential race.
"I'm not sure the state needs a third (candidate)," he said.
Bloomberg began his political career as a Democrat, but has been elected twice as a Republican and recently declared himself an independent, fueling speculation about a presidential bid.
The margin of error for the Republican poll is 5 percent and 4.5 percent among declared Democrats.
