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Weiner, Spitzer Continue to Dominate in the Polls

 Speaking outside the New York Blood Center, 310 E. 67th St., Anthony Weiner said Thursday, June 27 2013 that banning gays from blood donation is "wildly counterintuitive" discrimination.
Speaking outside the New York Blood Center, 310 E. 67th St., Anthony Weiner said Thursday, June 27 2013 that banning gays from blood donation is "wildly counterintuitive" discrimination.
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DNAinfo/Victoria Bekiempis

NEW YORK CITY — A new Quinnipiac University survey shows the “Tabloid Twins ”—  Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer — continue to lead their rivals in their respective races.

The survey shows Weiner and Council Speaker Christine Quinn in a virtual tie, 25-22 percent respectively, in the Democratic mayoral primary, while Spitzer’s high profile continues to help him lead against his Democratic rival for comptroller, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, 48-33 percent.

“They’re getting a tremendous amount of attention,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnpiac University Polling Institute, about Weiner and Spitzer. “Does that turn into votes or just into celebrity? The answer is I don’t know.”

In the mayor’s race, undecided voters poll nearly as well as Weiner and Quinn at 21 percent.  Former city Comptroller Bill Thompson and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio each come in at just over the double-digit mark, at 11 and 10 percent, respectively. City Comptroller John Liu is the favorite of 7 percent of voters polled while former Councilman Sal Albanese registered in at 1 percent.

The numbers represent a step back for Thompson, who was six points higher in the June poll. It also appears that de Blasio’s protest arrest last week did little to improve his standing in the polls.

Carroll noted that perhaps the most interesting demographic breakdown in the race was the support Weiner was receiving from black voters. Thirty-one percent of those surveyed went with Weiner — more than twice the 14 percent who said they'd vote for Thompson, the only black candidate in the race.

“It boggles the mind,” Carroll said. “You’d think his fellow black citizens in New York would give him a fair amount of support. But he’s third.”

Among all racial groups surveyed, Hispanics remain the most undecided group, with 28 percent unsure whom they will vote for — more than any individual candidate, though Quinn comes closest with 25 percent of Hispanics surveyed.

In the comptroller’s race, Stringer continued to struggle with his No. 1 challenge: name recognition. According to Quinnipiac, a whopping 62 percent of Democrats haven’t heard enough about him to form an opinion.

“He better change that, otherwise he’ll be the ex-borough president and never comptroller,” Carroll said.

The surveyed was conducted between July 8 and 14, and reached 738 New York City registered Democrats on landlines and cell phones. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.