Weiner and Spitzer Still Leading Among NY Dems

Article by Matthew Hampton 

Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer are still on top in their respective races, according to Monday's Quinnipiac University poll.

Weiner has a narrow three point lead over nearest opponent Christine Quinn 25-22, while Spitzer is hammering Scott Stringer by 15 points, 48-33.

According to pollsters, Weiner and Spitzer have household-name recognition via scandal to thank for those leads. 

"Notoriety has earned the 'Tabloid Twins,' former Gov. Eliot Spitzer as Client 9 and former Congressman Anthony (Tweets) Weiner, good initial numbers in the polls," joked Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. 

"Whether those numbers hold up in the real poll on Primary Election Day is the big question." 

Other mayoral candidates, including Bill Thompson, John Liu, Bill de Blasio and Sal Albanese were fighting for scraps with 21 percent of voters undecided. 

Quinnipiac also broke down the poll numbers by race and found that both Weiner and Spitzer were outpacing their opponents among black votes, while white voters tended to break for Quinn and Stringer. 

Ultimately, the poll found, New York Democrats felt that corrupt candidates were worse than those with a sexual scandal in their past — in a big way. Voters were more worried about financial misconduct by a better-than three-to-one margin. 

More than 700 registered Democrats were sampled for the poll.