Second Poll Has De Blasio Well Ahead Of Democratic Rivals For Mayor
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The most recent poll of likely Democratic primary voters has good news for both Bill de Blasio and Eliot Spitzer.
The poll by Siena College and The New York Times released Friday shows de Blasio, the public advocate, has 32 percent of likely voters in the Democratic mayoral primary.
Ex-comptroller Bill Thompson is at 18 percent. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is at 17.
"Right now, de Blasio is solidly in first place," Steve Greenberg of the Siena College/NYT poll told WCBS 880. "And it appears Thompson and Quinn are fighting it out for that second spot in a runoff."
NYT/Siena Poll's Steve Greenberg Discusses The Results:
Steve Greenberg Discusses The Poll
The poll of 505 likely Democratic voters has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
The poll aligns with the findings of one released by Quinnipiac University earlier this week, which also showed de Blasio opening a wide lead over Quinn and Thompson.
"Heading into the final 10 days of the campaign, it looks like de Blasio has a solid lead," Greenberg said.
De Blasio, Quinn Talk Runoff
De Blasio told WCBS 880's Rich Lamb that he's not breathing any easier now that he's opened a double-digit lead in the polls.
"I know it's going to be fight right down to the wire in the primary and then a fight right down to the wire in the runoff," de Blasio said. "And we are in a real good place to fight that fight."
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If no one captures 40 percent of the vote in the Sept. 10 primary, the top two candidates advance to a runoff three weeks later.
Quinn, once the Democratic front-runner, suddenly finds herself in a dead heat just to reach the runoff.
"Certainly, things have moved around, and I'm heading into the runoff as someone who's in a fight," she said. "And that's OK because you should fight to get into City Hall. Nobody gives you the keys to City Hall or the keys to the mayor's office."
Quinn also took her fair share of shots at de Blasio.
"There really is a clear, clear tale of two Bill de Blasios out there," she told CBS 2's Marcia Kramer. "We see on the issue of taxes he's talking now about raising taxes, but just three years ago he stood in the room full of business people and said he would never raise taxes because it's bad for business."
De Blasio fought back, claiming Quinn is all about giving tax breaks to real estate developers.
"She clearly is the real estate developers' best friend and she's trying to use these attacks to mask reality," de Blasio said. "She gave Mayor Bloomberg a third term in a backroom deal, wouldn't allow unpaid sick days and says she wants to keep the architect of stop-and-frisk in place."
Second Poll Has de Blasio Ahead Of Democratic Rivals For Mayor
Thompson gained some momentum Friday, picking up the endorsement of the Rev. Calvin Butts, pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem and a civil rights activist, WCBS 880's Paul Murnane reported.
"I think Bill Thompson, more than anyone else, will be appealing to the business community," Butts said. "And African-Americans have to pay attention to that. It's one thing to re-enact the march on Washington, but we need progress more than we need protests."
Butts also fired a rifle shot at de Blasio, who says he wants to tax the rich to get more money for education.
"We need somebody who can do business," Butts told Kramer. "You just can't say your going to tax the rich, just generally speaking like that. This city spins around Wall Street."
Among blacks in the Siena Poll, de Blasio has 33 percent, Thompson has 23, Anthony Weiner has 13 and Quinn has 9.
That same poll also shows Spitzer with a substantial lead over rival Scott Stringer for comptroller.
Spitzer, the former governor, is the choice of 50 percent of likely Democratic voters.
Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, is at 35 percent.
That's a sharp contrast to Thursday's Quinnipiac poll that showed the two in a dead heat, tied at 46 percent. That survey of 602 likely Democratic voters also had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
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