Anthony Weiner trails frontrunner Christine Quinn by just five points in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary, according to a new Marist poll–the first poll conducted since Weiner announced his candidacy last week.
The poll, released Tuesday, puts the disgraced congressman in second place in the crowded field of seven Democratic candidates. Among registered Democrat voters, Quinn, the speaker of the New York City Council, received 24 percent of the votes to Weiner’s 19 percent. New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio ranked third with 12 percent of the vote and a sizable 23 percent of voters said they were still undecided.
These figures are a big improvement for Weiner, who, in April, amid speculation of his run, received just 15 percent of registered Democrats’ votes, putting him 11 points behind Quinn.
If no candidate attains 40 percent of the vote, the two top two contendors will face each other in a run-off. In a hypothetical run-off between Weiner and Quinn, Weiner doesn’t fare too well, according to the Marist poll. Weiner would would rake in 33 percent of the votes to Quinn’s 48 percent. The good news for Weiner, however, is that 53 percent of New York City voters think he deserves a second chance.
The sample of 492 Democrats surveyed for who they would vote for in the Democratic primary had a margin of error of 4.4. percent. The poll surveyed a total of 810 registered voters, with a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
