Check this out: A new Rasmussen poll shows that an Independent candidacy for President by Mike Bloomberg would draw almost all its support away from the Republican nominee.

The poll asks respondents who they'd vote for in a hypothetical three-way race between Independent Bloomberg, Hillary Clinton and John McCain; it also runs the same numbers with Bloomberg, Hillary and Rudy Giuliani. In both cases, interestingly, Hillary's support holds steady at 46% — in line with other Rasmussen polls testing Hillary in two-way races — while both of the GOP candidates drop to 37%. Bloomberg is a distant third with eight or nine points, siphoned away from the Republican column.

Key footnote: Though Bloomberg became a Republican to run for Mayor in 2001, he is a longtime liberal Dem who's given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Dem candidates over the years — a fact that might alter the above findings once Republican voters learn of it. Meanwhile, this poll would seem to suggest — like other surveys — far more enthusiasm about their candidates among Dem voters than among Republican-leaning voters, who appear to be hungry for an alternative to their party's current candidates.