Bill de Blasio has surged so far ahead of his two closest Democratic rivals for mayor that he’s close to clinching the nomination without a runoff, according to a blockbuster poll out yesterday.
The public advocate garnered 36 percent of the vote among those likely to pull the lever in the Sept. 10 primary — within striking distance of the 40 percent needed to win the Democratic heat outright.
Two weeks ago, the same Quinnipiac University poll had him at 30 percent.
Former front-runner Christine Quinn, the City Council speaker, got 21 percent, followed closely by former Comptroller Bill Thompson, at 20 percent.
The poll shows de Blasio — the far-left liberal running as a counter to Mayor Bloomberg — easily beating both Quinn and Thompson in a potential runoff election, which would take place Oct. 1, if needed.
“The political cliche that the most liberal candidate wins the Democratic primary in New York seems to be alive and well,” said pollster Maurice Carroll.
De Blasio’s strong numbers follow rival candidate Anthony Weiner’s fall from grace amid further revelations in his sexting scandal. Weiner garnered only 8 percent, followed by City Comptroller John Liu (6 percent) and former Councilman Sal Albanese (1 percent).
De Blasio’s momentum has also come despite having his plan to hike the income tax on the wealthiest New Yorkers to fund universal pre-kindergarten ripped as unrealistic because it would require Albany’s OK.
All three of the leading candidates have been tossing haymakers at one another with increasing urgency as the race heads into the final two weeks.
De Blasio has hammered Quinn for being too close to Bloomberg and for engineering his run for a third term by OKing a waiver of the city term-limits law.
In turn, she has called him a hypocrite who has changed his tune for political expediency on a host of issues — including criticizing the “member items” funds dispensed by the council although he took part in the practice when he was a legislator.
Thompson, the only African-American in the race, has been branding de Blasio a liar over his claim that he’d be the lone reformer of the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk program. The poll shows de Blasio beating Thompson, 34 percent to 25 percent, among black voters.
Yet the results show de Blasio beating Thompson among likely black voters, 34 percent to 25 percent — a margin not expected to hold up at the ballot box if the past is any indication. Veteran political analysts remained skeptical that a runoff would be averted.
“It’s very, very hard in a six-candidate race to get to 40 percent,” said consultant Scott Levenson, president of The Advance Group. “But undoubtedly given the attacks he’s sustained, Bill de Blasio had the best two weeks of any candidate in this race.”
The only good news for Quinn and Thompson was that nearly one-third of voters said there’s a “good chance” they’ll change their minds before entering the voting booth.Additionally, The Quinnipiac poll, which has a margin of error of 4 percentage points, hasn’t always jibed with other polls conducted this campaign season.