In one of our most popular polls to date, readers chose San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom as their favorite American mayor. Newsom had a 25 point lead over his nearest rival Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles. The two men have often been mentioned as possible candidates for the Democratic nomination for Governor in California.

The margin of victory was surprising because of Mayor Newsom’s recent scandal. Just weeks ago he admitted that he had an illicit affair with a staffer’s wife more than a year ago and that he struggles with alcohol abuse. Clearly, our readers were willing to overlook these personal struggles, perhaps because they perceive Newsom as a powerful and courageous mayor on other issues.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg finished third and there was a two-way tie for fourth between the Mayors of Chicago and Atlanta. Mayor Shirley Franklin’s showing was impressive given that she has a lower profile than Mayor Daley. She could be a raising star in national Democratic Party politics.

Finally, it was interesting to see that Mayor Rocky Anderson pulled in only 7.5 percent of the vote after he had traveled the country calling for the impeachment of President Bush. I expected him to receive more support given that exposure. Poor Mayor Nickels got no votes at all and readers from his region of the country voted for others.

Here are the results:

Gavin Newsom (San Francisco): 42.5%
Antonio Villaraigosa (Los Angeles): 17.5%
Michael Bloomberg (New York): 12.5%
Shirley Franklin (Atlanta): 10.0%
Richard Daley (Chicago): 10.0%
Mayor Rocky Anderson (Salt Lake): 7.5%
Mayor Greg Nickels (Seattle): 0.0%