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New Yorkers favor extending term limits so he can run again 54% to 42%, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.

The survey also shows that more people warmed up to the idea of adding a third term since July when a similar poll showed that just 38% of New Yorkers supported the plan compared to 56% who opposed it.

And the billionaire businessman would blow his competitors away in 2009, the poll suggests.

Nearly 51% of those surveyed named Bloomberg their pick for mayor with likely competitors counting single-digit support.

Of the other candidates, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz - who has already committed to staying in his current job if term limits are stretched - leads with 9%.

City Controller William Thompson, who promises to run for mayor in 2009 no matter what Bloomberg does, garnered 8% of the voters' support. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly picked up 7%.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens), another who pledged to stay in the race, posted 7% of voter support, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn got 5% and Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum trailed with 4%.

The poll was conducted earlier this week before his big announcement yesterday to seek four more years and the plan was most popular with white voters and Republicans.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg didn't waste any time launching into campaign mode and said today on his radio show that the only poll that matters will be the one taken in November 2009.

"I spent my life building the expertise that I think you need for this job right now. I worked hard at it and if the public likes what I've done and wants four more years they'll vote it," he told radio show host John Gambling.

He defended his plan against critics who call it undemocratic and was confident it will beat any opposition in court.

But he didn't sugarcoat the economic hardships the city faces in the next few years, suggesting that taxes will rise but that he'd work to stem any layoffs.

"We are going to have some very tough times here," warned Bloomberg who said the crumbling economy was one of the chief reasons he wants to remain in office.

Bloomberg's approval rating on the poll of 1,316 voters hit 79% compared to 53% for Thompson, 49% for Gotbaum and 48% for Quinn.

"I'm not going to be all that popular when we address the fiscal problems in the next 13 months but I'm too old to fudge it and I'm too old to compromise for political reasons," Bloomberg said.

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