Poll: NYC Democrats believe Weiner should drop mayoral bid

A majority of New York City Democrats say they believe Anthony Weiner should drop his bid for mayor in the aftermath of a sexting scandal that has overtaken his campaign.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Monday found that 53 percent of likely Democratic voters think Weiner should exit the race, while 40 percent say he should stay in.

The survey, conducted after last Tuesday, when Weiner admitted he had continued to send sexual messages to women he met online even after he left Congress, found the ex-lawmaker had fallen to fourth place in the Democratic race for mayor ? just weeks after he was the poll?s front-runner.

According to the new survey, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn leads among likely Democratic voters with 27 percent support. She's followed by Public Advocate Bill de Blasio at 21 percent, former Comptroller Bill Thompson at 20 percent and Weiner at 16 percent.

Comptroller John Liu has 6 percent in the poll, while former City Council member Sal Albanese registered at just 2 percent.

Seven percent of voters remain undecided ahead of the Sept. 10 primary. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.

Weiner has repeatedly insisted he will not drop out of the race, but virtually every campaign event he?s held over the last week has been overshadowed by the sexting controversy.

According to the poll, a similar percentage of female and male voters say Weiner needs to quit the race ? 54 percent of women say he should go, compared with 52 percent of men.

But there is a significant racial gap. According to Quinnipiac, 53 percent of black voters say Weiner should stay in the race, compared to 64 percent of white voters who think he should quit.

But the poll suggests that none of Weiner?s rivals would see a major boost if he were to end his campaign. Quinn?s standing would increase to 30 percent, compared with 25 percent each for Thompson and de Blasio. The winning candidate has to reach 40 percent support in the Sept. 10 primary to avoid an Oct. 1 runoff election.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/poll--nyc-democrats-believe-weiner-should-drop-mayoral-bid-202628806.html

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