Weiner gains ground in NYC mayor’s poll after rocky start
The first major poll since Weiner entered the mayor’s race found the ex-congressman running in second place with 19 percent support among voters.
{mosads}Christine Quinn, the head of New York’s city council, leads the Democratic primary with 24 percent support.
Weiner endured a rocky start to his mayoral campaign.
He was greeted to a round of pun-filled tabloid headlines alluding to the 2011 scandal, in which he admitted to having “exchanged messages and photos of an explicit nature with about six women over the last three years.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) rebuked Weiner after he entered the mayor’s race, saying “shame on us” if Weiner is elected in the November election.
Several of Weiner’s former Democratic colleagues in the House also distanced themselves from his bid for political redemption.
Weiner then acknowledged more women may come forward with more inappropriate emails and texts from him.
Perhaps most embarrassing, his campaign website mistakenly included a backdrop image of Pittsburgh’s skyline instead of the famous Manhattan skyline.
Despite the uneven opening to his campaign, Weiner’s support appears to have grown since he entered the mayor’s race. He has drawn enthusiastic crowds at his campaign events. The New York Daily News — which ridiculed him last week — on Monday said there was a Weiner “love fest” in New York.
In April, prior to his announcement, a Marist poll showed Weiner with 15 percent support to Quinn’s 26 percent.
A Quinnipiac survey released on the day Weiner entered the mayor’s race also showed him with 15 percent support.
“The Democratic primary for mayor remains wide open,” Lee Miringoff, director of The Marist Institute for Public Opinion, said in a statement.
Among Democrats, 59 percent say Weiner deserves a second chance. But they are split when asked for other views about him. He is viewed favorably by 44 percent of Democrats in New York — and unfavorably by 44 percent.
By contrast, Quinn has a 60 percent approval rating among Democrats, with just 26 percent holding an unfavorable view of her.
In a hypothetical runoff, Quinn leads Weiner by a 48-33 percent margin, with 18 percent of voters undecided.
The Marist poll found Bill de Blasio, New York’s public advocate, with 12 percent support and former city comptroller Bill Thompson with 11 percent support.
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In a campaign video released last week on YouTube, Weiner asked voters for a “second chance” to serve.
“Look, I made some big mistakes, and I know I let a lot of people down,” Weiner said in the video. “But I’ve also learned some tough lessons.”
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