Anthony Weiner Drops in Polls After New Sext Bombshell

Huma Abedin, wife of Anthony Weiner, a leading candidate for New York City mayor, speaks during a press conference on July 23, 2013 in New York City.

Image by John Moore/Getty Images

By Reuters July 25, 2013

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has reclaimed her lead over former Congressman Anthony Weiner in the city’s mayoral race, according to the first poll since new details emerged about Weiner’s explicit chats with women he met online.

Less than two months ahead of the Sept. 10 Democratic primary, Quinn leads her rivals with 25 percent of the vote among Democrats, with Weiner trailing her by nine percentage points, according to the NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist Poll.

Weiner, who led the field with 25 percent in June, has fallen to 16 percent.

In the latest poll, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and former city comptroller Bill Thompson are tied for third place with 14 percent, while city Comptroller John Liu follows with 7 percent.

“Christine Quinn has reclaimed the front-runner status. Anthony Weiner has fallen back into the pack,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.

New York Democrats were closely divided on the question of whether Weiner should stay in the race, with 43 percent saying he should bow out and 47 percent saying he should stay in. But when asked if Weiner deserves a second chance, fewer than half said he did – down from 59 percent who said that a month ago.

“Clearly, redemption overload has set in,” Miringoff said in an interview.

The telephone survey of 551 city Democrats had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percent.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO