Poll Confirms That a Weiner Campaign Would Shake Up Mayoral Race

When word spread last week that former Representative Anthony Weiner was contemplating a mayoral run, the questions of what it meant for the electoral future immediately arose. How would his candidacy affect the race? Would the Democratic primary become a showdown between Weiner and Christine Quinn? Could people forgive the disgraced politician enough to elect him?

Well, as this was all happening, NBC and Marist University took to the streets (figuratively speaking, of course) to find out what Weiner’s chances of success were. And, yesterday, those numbers came in with a report titled “Weiner Candidacy for Mayor Could
Scramble Democratic Primary Contest.”

If Anthony Weiner joined the race today, he would tie Bill de Blasio for second place, with 15 percent of New York Democrats saying they would vote for him in the primaries. Quinn still dominates the lead with 26 percent of the vote, John Liu struggles behind with 12 percent, and Bill Thompson is in last place with 11 percent. But, if you consider the margin of error, all the contestants below Quinn are in a dead heat, making their candidacies Quinn’s to mess up real bad.

In his NY1 interview the other night, Weiner made it clear that his first goal was to get New Yorkers back on his side. And that seems to be working: in October, only 28 percent of voters said they wouldn’t mind if he ran; now, that number is around 40 percent.

Honesty and forgiveness are powerful emotions to have in your arsenal. But can they keep up a mayoral campaign until November? That remains to be seen.