New York City

Weiner On Top? He takes lead among Democrats in NY mayor poll

June 26, 2013 Associated Press
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New Yorkers appear ready to give former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner a second chance as he pursues the Democratic nomination for mayor.

Weiner, whose congressional career was derailed two years ago amid a sexting scandal, has pulled ahead of his Democratic rivals in a Wall Street Journal, NBC New York and Marist survey. Among those he leads is City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who was ahead of Weiner 24 to 19 percent only last month in another Marist poll.

Twenty-five percent of registered Democrats said they would vote for Weiner, compared with 20 percent forQuinn, according to the poll released Tuesday night.

Trailing were ex-Comptroller Bill Thompson with 13 percent, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio with 10 percent and Comptroller John Liu with 8 percent. Twenty-four percent of those polled said they were undecided.

The Democratic primary is Sept. 10. To win the nomination in the heavily Democratic city, a candidate must secure 40 percent of the vote or face a runoff.

“In many ways,” Weiner said of the poll, “it doesn’t change anything. We’re going to keep talking about ideas for the middle class and those struggling to make it and certainly it does seem … that people are responding.”

Quinn spokesman Mike Morey said the campaign expects polls to fluctuate.

“But we are confident that on Election Day when voters have to decide who they want to lead this city, they will choose someone who has demonstrated the ability to lead and deliver,” he said.

On Tuesday, Quinn won the unanimous endorsement of the politically influential union that represents building employees, the Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ.

Endorsements by other big unions have been divided among the candidates.

The poll surveyed 689 Democrats among 1,118 registered New York City voters overall from June 17 to June 21. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

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