By Paul Steinhauser
(CNN) — It’s time to drop out.
That’s the message to Anthony Weiner from a majority of New York City Democrats likely to vote in September’s mayoral primary, according to a new poll.
The Quinnipiac University survey, conducted entirely after Weiner admitted in a news conference last week to lewd chats a year after such sexting forced him to resign from Congress, also indicates that the Democratic New York City mayoral candidate’s support among likely voters has dropped significantly.
By a 53%-40% margin, Democrats say Weiner should end his bid for a political second chance. The poll was conducted Wednesday through Sunday, following Weiner’s Tuesday press conference. It’s the second straight poll conducted since the latest controversy exploded across New York City to indicate that Weiner’s numbers are plummeting.
According to the new poll, Weiner has dropped from first to fourth place in the race for the Democratic nomination. Weiner now has the support of 16% of likely Democratic primary voters, down 10 points from a Quinnipiac poll conducted almost entirely before last Tuesday’s news. In that survey Weiner was at 26%, on top of the field of candidates.
The new poll indicates New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn at 27%, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio at 21%, and former New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson at 20%, all ahead of Weiner. The remaining candidates are in single digits, with seven percent of likely voters undecided.
“With six weeks to go, anything can happen, but it looks like former Congressman Anthony Weiner may have sexted himself right out of the race for New York City mayor,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Weiner has repeatedly vowed to push forward with his campaign, despite the recent dust-ups over the past week. In a fundraising email sent Monday, the candidate announced he will publish “yet another book of ideas” for New York, following his campaign book with “64 ideas” to keep the middle class afloat in New York. He said he also plans to show up at more events, debates street fairs and worship services.
“In short, I’m going to keep doing what I’ve always done. I’m going to keep on fighting for my city,” he said.
If Weiner were to drop out, the poll indicates Quinn at 30% among Democrats likely to vote in the primary, with de Blasio and Thompson each at 25% and the remaining candidates in single digits. The winning candidate would have to top 40% in order to avoid a runoff with the second place finisher.
There’s little gender gap on the question of whether Weiner should end his bid, with 54% of women and 52% of men saying he should drop out. But there’s a large racial divide, with 53% of black voters saying Weiner should remain in the race, and 64% of white voters saying it’s time for him to hang it up.
In the horserace question, Weiner dropped seven points among black voters, from 31% last week to 24% now. But he nosedived among white voters from 23% to just 7%. He dropped from 27% to 18% among women Democratic voters, and from 24% to 13% among men.
Forty percent of those questioned say Weiner’s behavior disqualifies him from consideration as a candidate, up 17 points from last week. Another four in ten say his behavior is a factor, but doesn’t disqualify him and one in five say his actions are not a factor at all in their vote.
And NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist survey conducted Wednesday and released Thursday indicated Weiner dropped nine points in the horserace, among registered Democrats, and that his favorable rating sank 22 points, to 30%.
The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted July 24-28, with 446 likely Democratic primary voters in New York City questioned by telephone. The survey’s sampling error is plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.
CNN’s Ashley Killough contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire
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