WALL STREET JOURNAL
Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner captured the frontrunner's mantle in the race for the Democratic mayoral nomination, leading City Council Speaker Christine Quinn for the first time and running neck-and-neck with her in a potential runoff, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC 4 New York/Marist poll.Just two years after a sexting scandal derailed his career, Mr. Weiner garnered 25% of registered Democrats polled, compared with Ms. Quinn, who had 20%, marking her lowest level of support since polling of the race began. Trailing them were former Comptroller Bill Thompson, at 13%, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, 10%, and city Comptroller John Liu, 8%.
Mr. Weiner also has made gains in an all-but-certain runoff election expected to determine the Democratic nominee. In a potential runoff matchup, Ms. Quinn leads Mr. Weiner, 44% to 42%; a month ago, the margin was much wider, with Ms. Quinn winning 48% to 33%.
Nearly half of all registered voters would be willing to vote for [Mr. Weiner] for mayor, and more than half of Democrats view him positively, according to the poll....The survey also demonstrates the toll that months of bruising criticism on the campaign trail have taken on Ms. Quinn, who has been pummeled over issues such as overturning term limits and her alliance with Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Her level of support among Democrats has fallen nearly in half.
The poll showed all of the major Democrats defeating Messrs.Joseph Lhota or John Catsimatidis in the general election. In one scenario, Ms. Quinn has 52% of registered voters, compared with Mr. Lhota at 15%,
CBS News reported Ms Quinn fared slightly better in a new Quinnipiac University poll. In the survey, 17 percent of respondents voiced support for disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., putting him about even with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and former City Comptroller William Thompson, who have 19 and 16 percent, respectively.