Los Angeles's brooding electorate, battered by job losses and home foreclosures that crest above national and state trends, feels strongly that the city is on the wrong track. And almost half believe the city needs to move in a direction different from that charted by Villaraigosa, rebuking the policies of a mayor they re-elected just more than three months ago. Although they consider the city's budget deficit an urgent problem, voters steadfastly oppose hiking taxes or fees to stem the deepening fiscal crisis. Even the notion of raising taxes to improve fire protection, a comparatively easy sell in wildfire-prone Southern California, was rejected handily. Villaraigosa received a favorable job approval rating from 55 percent of the registered voters surveyed. The showing is in line with the 53.4 percent of the vote he won in the city's March election against a field of little-known and underfunded candidates. He officially begins his second term July 1. For Villaraigosa, who casts himself as a unifying political force in the mold of five-term Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, the survey also indicated some fraying in the broad ethnic coalition that carried him into office in 2005. Almost three-fourths of Hispanic voters gave the mayor high marks, as did almost two of three black voters, but a narrow plurality of white voters gave him negative grades. The city's precipitous drop in crime won Villaraigosa his highest praise -- he received a 69 percent approval rating on handling crime. Voters also approved his efforts to make L.A. a more environmentally friendly city, but scorched him on the city's budget deficit and the quality of the public schools, which ranked higher among their top concerns. 'I've actually been impressed with some of the things they've done with crime, to bring crime down. I've also been impressed, because he's been so prolific. ... He's all over town,' Christopher Knudsen, an unemployed recruiter for financial companies, said in a follow-up interview. Michael Ortega, who was among the respondents unhappy with the mayor's tenure, said Villaraigosa appears more concerned about furthering his political career than serving the people of Los Angeles. 'He's never going to be focused on the business at hand. To run for governor, you have to traverse the state ... so he won't even be around,' said Ortega, 58, a retired Social Security Administration worker. 'I've never trusted the guy.' Ortega said his doubts about Villaraigosa deepened two years ago after the mayor acknowledged his extramarital affair with a local Telemundo newscaster, which led to the breakup of his 20-year marriage. However, most of those surveyed -- 70 percent -- dismissed the affair, saying it would have no effect on whether they vote for Villaraigosa in the future. The Los Angeles Times survey was conducted by the Democratic polling firm of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner in conjunction with Public Opinion Strategies, which surveys for Republican candidates. The findings are based on a citywide telephone survey of 1,500 registered voters conducted from June 10 to June 16. The survey has a margin of error of 2.6 percentage points in either direction. The poll was taken as Villaraigosa prepares not only to begin his second and final term as mayor, but as he comes to a decision whether to run for governor in 2010. Those close to the process have said they expect a public announcement soon. Given the nation's economic upheaval, and the overall anger voters harbor as a result, Villaraigosa's 55 percent job approval rating appears 'acceptable,' said pollster Stanley Greenberg, one of the poll supervisors. Still, he said, it's clear that Los Angeles voters are not happy with his policies. 'He's going into this term with people very distraught with the direction of the city,' Greenberg said. 'He's not coming with a big wind at this back. People want something new from him.' Villaraigosa's prospects as a possible gubernatorial candidate, a step that seemed almost preordained after his celebrated 2005 election as Los Angeles' first Hispanic mayor in more than a century, also appear vulnerable in a city that should be the 56-year-old politician's strongest base of support. Among Los Angeles Democrats, Villaraigosa would only narrowly defeat state Attorney General Jerry Brown if the Democratic gubernatorial primary was held today, the survey found. According to the poll, 38 percent picked Villaraigosa compared to 32 percent for former governor Brown. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom registered at a distant 13 percent. Newsom has announced his candidacy while Brown, like Villaraigosa, has demurred when asked his plans. A Villaraigosa bid for governor would enjoy strong support from Hispanic and black voters, as well as voters under age 29 . However, voters over 50, who are among the most dependable on election day, favor Brown, as do the city's white voters. Brown also is a more popular choice on the city's west side, a former power base for Villaraigosa. The mayor is favored in the San Fernando Valley, and in south and central Los Angeles, the survey showed. 'He seems pretty fair. All of us make mistakes and do something wrong. At least he's trying to help. He's doing what he can,' said Leola Harrison, 74, a retired bakery truck driver and housekeeper from south Los Angeles who said Villaraigosa should run for governor. 'His attitude and his demeanor is, to me, on the meek side. What I mean is the poor and the downtrodden. He doesn't just look at the people upstairs.' The financial troubles facing Los Angeles are clearly a major concern among voters. Topped only by education and jobs and economic development, they far outranked Angelenos' ubiquitous anxieties about crime and traffic. Three of every four respondents called the deficit a serious problem, and blamed it on three main culprits: Sacramento politicians, City Hall politicians and the national recession. (Optional add end) For California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the numbers were not good. Only 29 percent approved of the job he was doing; close to half of the respondents strongly disapproved. South Los Angeles' Harrison was one of them. 'I think I could make a better governor than what we have right now,' she said. 