Anthony Weiner Charges Into Lead in New York Mayor Poll
Comeback Kid: A new poll shows Anthony Weiner has 25% of the support in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary field. That puts him on top of putative frontrunner Christine Quinn. Image by getty images
Disgraced ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner, attempting a political comeback two years after resigning in disgrace from the legislature, has taken the lead over his Democratic rivals in the race for New York City mayor, a poll showed.
Weiner, the only Jewish candidate, has the backing of 25 percent of registered Democrats, while City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the early front-runner and a close ally of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, trails with 20 percent, according to Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal-NBC New York-Marist poll.
Former Comptroller Bill Thompson has 13 percent, followed by Public Advocate Bill de Blasio with 10 percent and city Comptroller John Liu with 8 percent.
Weiner has shaken up the race for City Hall since announcing his candidacy on May 22. His resignation in 2011 had marked a remarkable fall from grace for a politician who was seen as a leading liberal voice in the U.S. House of Representatives and had been widely expected to run in this year’s race for mayor.
Once a popular six-term Congressman representing parts of Brooklyn and Queens, he resigned from Congress after admitting he had sent a lewd picture over Twitter and then lied about it repeatedly.
Since entering the race, Weiner has presented himself as a champion for working-class New Yorkers and a man who has learned from his mistakes.
As recently as February, most city-wide polls had Quinn, who would be the city’s first female and lesbian mayor, leading with nearly 40 percent of Democratic support. But since then, Quinn’s support has seen a slow and steady drop.
The survey of 689 Democrats was conducted last week and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
