7/24/2013
By Ivan Pereira
A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday that was largely conducted before Anthony Weiner admitted to more sexual messaging showed him leading the Democratic primary field.
The poll, of likely Democratic primary voters, had the former congressman ahead with 26% of the vote compared to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s 22%, former City Comptroller Bill Thompson’s 20%, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio’s 15% and City Comptroller John Liu’s 7%.
The survey was conducted between July 18 and Tuesday, the day Weiner admitted to sexting another a woman.
Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute said the numbers don’t tell the whole story because Weiner’s numbers are likely to be affected by the latest scandal.
“After the new flood of stories about congressman Anthony Weiner, we must look at the likelihood of a runoff between Council Speaker Christine Quinn and former Comptroller William Thompson,” he said in a statement.
In that runoff scenario, Thompson would defeat Quinn 51% to 42%.
If Weiner were to make a runoff against either Quinn or Thompson, he’d have no shot, the poll showed. Thompson would beat him 52% to 41% and Quinn edges the former congressman 46% to 44%.
If Weiner pulls out of the race, Quinn becomes the leader with 30% followed by Thompson with 26%, de Blasio with 21% and Liu at 10 %.
Quinnipiac researchers interviewed 1,340 registered voters for the poll which has a margin of error of +/- 2.7%.
