NEW YORK CITY — The city comptroller race between former Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer is a dead heat with less than a week to go before the primary, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.
The survey found that 47 percent of likely Democratic primary voters support Stringer, while 45 percent say the same about Spitzer, resulting in a statistical tie. The margin of error for the poll was 3.6 percentage points.
But the results are good news for Stringer, who less than a month ago was trailing Spitzer by 19 points.
“The Democratic primary for New York City comptroller is no longer an Eliot Spitzer romp. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer has made the comptroller race a nail-biter, too close to call,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, in a statement.
“New Yorkers are looking for a Comptroller with a proven record of honesty and integrity who will fight for the middle class and those struggling to make it,” Stringer campaign spokeswoman Audrey Gelman wrote in a statement.
A Spitzer campaign representative minimized the importance of the poll.
“We feel good about where the race truly stands and if Scott Stringer’s flailing performance this morning was any indication, his campaign doesn’t," Spitzer spokeswoman Lis Smith said in a statement. "All along, we’ve said that the only poll that matters is on Election Day. We’re confident that New Yorkers will choose to elect an independent voice to the comptroller’s office.”
Race represents the biggest demographic split between the candidates, the poll found. Stringer dominates among white voters polled with 60 percent, while Spitzer does equally well among black voters at 61 percent.
The candidates virtually split support among both women and men.
The poll was conducted between Aug. 28 and Sept. 1, and surveyed 750 likely Democratic voters over landlines and cellphones.
