What do New Yorkers think of the pope?

Take a gander at these poll results:

Nearly one-quarter of New York City voters have an unfavorable opinion of Pope Benedict XVI and a similar proportion do not approve of the way he is doing his job, but an overwhelming majority of New Yorkers — 70 percent — believe his planned visit in April will be good for the city, according to Quinnipiac University poll results released this morning.

The poll of 1,007 registered voters in the city, conducted from Nov. 13 to 18, found that 9 percent of respondents had a “very favorable” opinion of Pope Benedict, 47 percent had a “favorable” opinion, 16 percent had an “unfavorable” opinion and 7 percent had a “very unfavorable” opinion.

By a large majority, New Yorkers view the pope’s visit as good for the city: the respondents agreed with that proposition by a margin of 70 percent to 15 percent, and Catholic voters even more strongly, by a margin of 88 percent to 9 percent.

Asked whether they approved of the job the pope is doing, 36 percent said they approved, 24 percent said they didn’t, and 41 percent said they were undecided. Roman Catholic voters approved of the pope’s handling of his responsibilities by a margin of 62 percent to 22 percent.