Hahn, Villaraigosa Close in Mayoral Poll

Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, who is weighing a rematch against Mayor James K. Hahn, is touting a recent poll that shows the two politicians running neck and neck less than 10 months before the March mayoral election.

Villaraigosa has not decided whether to enter the race, but the poll of 600 likely voters commissioned by the California Teachers Assn. shows Hahn and Villaraigosa would each get support from about a quarter of the city’s voters.

Councilman Bernard C. Parks, who is also exploring whether to enter the race, would receive support from slightly less than a fifth of voters, according to the poll obtained by The Times.

The two major declared challengers -- former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg and state Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sun Valley) -- received only single-digit support.

A spokeswoman for the mayor said Hahn would not comment on the poll, which was conducted over a week in late April and early May by Los Angeles-based Goodwin Simon Strategic Research. Villaraigosa’s supporters have been talking up the results for days.

The former Assembly speaker, whom Hahn defeated three years ago, said the numbers were grim for the mayor, who got favorable ratings from only 53% of those polled.

Forty-one percent of those polled also said they believed Los Angeles was on the wrong track, compared with 37% who said it was headed in the right direction.

Those kind of negative ratings are worrisome for an incumbent, said veteran pollster Arnold Steinberg, who did polling for former Mayor Richard Riordan’s two campaigns.

“It should be encouraging to all of the other candidates,” Villaraigosa said.

After he left the state Assembly, Villaraigosa worked as a consultant for the California Teachers Assn., the state’s main teachers union, but a Villaraigosa spokesman said he was not involved in the poll.

Parks, the city’s former police chief, said he was encouraged by the results, adding that the poll reflects a mood of discontent that he said he has found in a series of chats he has held throughout Los Angeles.

Hertzberg, who has assembled a large fundraising team and laid out the most ambitious plan for his campaign among the declared challengers, confronts an electorate in which more than eight out of 10 people don’t know who he is.

Hertzberg consultant John Shallman was unfazed. “I have every confidence we are going to be competitive,” he said.

Alarcon, who could not be reached for comment, was unknown by more than half of those polled.