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Weiner & Spitzer Now Frontrunners In Race For Mayor, Comptroller
By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 16, 2013
Modified Jul 16, 2013
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Weiner via Daily Intel, Photoshop via Jen Carlson; Spitzer courtesy Getty
By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 16, 2013
Modified Jul 16, 2013
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Are you ready for Mayor Weiner and Comptroller Spitzer? A growing number of Democratic voters appear to be, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll. Anthony Weiner is currently in a statistical dead heat with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who trails the disgraced ex-Congressman by three points, which is within the margin of error. Weiner currently leads Quinn 25%-22% among registered Democrats, while Spitzer is steamrolling rival Scott Stringer by a margin of 48% to 33%.
Interestingly, married women surveyed still prefer the hooker-happy Spitzer over the Scar-Jo supported Stringer; according to the poll, Spitzer leads among married women by 41% to 34%. It's possible that both Weiner and Spitzer are benefiting greatly from their infamy; 62% of Democrats said they don't know enough about Stringer to have an opinion, while only 12% said they needed more info on Spitzer. Out of voters who knew him, 53% approved.
Asked "what is a worse offense for an elected official, sexual misconduct or financial impropriety," 69% of voters said financial impropriety, compared to 22% who said sex. This is all disappointing for Bill Thompson and Bill de Blasio, who both trail behind Quinn and Weiner by double digits. 11% favor Thompson, 10% are voting for de Blasio, and then there's poor ol' Gil Liu, who trails with just 7% and the primary less than two months away.
It looks like a runoff vote for mayor is all but inevitable, because if no single candidate scores 40 percent of the vote in the primary, the two leading candidates must lock horns on October 1st. And with old-timey steampunk lever voting machines being brought back, the fight for the hipster vote is sure to be intense.
As it happens, Gothamist will be co-sponsoring the first official NYC Campaign Finance Board Mayoral debate August 21st, as well as the Democratic primary debates for Public Advocate (August 15) and Comptroller (August 12) as well.
In other local political news, Spitzer did not file file a financial-disclosure report by last Thursday's deadline (he has a one week grace period). Newsday reports that Weiner has raised almost $800,000 while Quinn has raised $463,300 in the past two months to add to almost $7.2 million donated previously. And Stringer has raised about $150,000 in the past two months—he called on Spitzer to voluntarily agree to a $4 million spending cap. Spitzer refused, saying he has "not been able to spend years raising money from the special interests."
Tagged
anthony weiner
Election 2013
eliot spitzer
horse race
nyc
Politics
polling
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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