An independent running for Mayor of Auckland has dismissed claims he is anything like Donald Trump

The race for the job is heating up, with a Ratepayers' Alliance-Curia poll showing Labour councillor Efeso Collins and restaurateur Leo Molloy each on 21.7 percent.

Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck and businessman Wayne Brown are just behind.

Leo Malloy says he's fiscally responsible, but not remotely close to the former US President.

He says people don't understand him and the media takes his sound bites out of context, and portrays him as something he's not.