Manukau's Mayor Len Brown has piped Auckland City Mayor John Banks in a poll aimed to see who Aucklanders would like to lead the new super-city.

Nearly 482 Aucklanders were instructed by the UMR Research poll to make a direct comparison between Mr Banks and Mr Brown.

After the results, it was seen that there were 35% who preferred Mr Brown, and 34% who preferred Mr Banks.

It has been confirmed by John Banks that he will run for the mayoralty, while Len Brown expects to make a decision within a few weeks.

The poll asked the people, in a separate questionnaire, to choose between Mr Banks and Auckland Regional Council Chairman Mike Lee, where Mr. Banks came as the clear preference of the people.

The poll was conducted between 18 June and 6 July, and had a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.