He’s de-Blasting off!
For the first time, surging Democratic mayoral front-runner Bill de Blasio saw his support among likely voters soar above the magic 40 percent threshold, a poll released today showed.
With just one week to go until primary day, the public advocate garnered the backing of 43 percent of those surveyed — enough to avoid what had been presumed to be a sure runoff.
De Blasio’s support has climbed by a whopping 7 points since a similar Quinnipiac University poll was conducted just last week — despite his main rivals’ daily attacks on his record as hypocritical and prone to flip-flopping.
Former City Comptroller Bill Thompson won 20 percent of the vote in today’s poll, while one-time front-runner Christine Quinn, the City Council Speaker, dipped to 18 percent.
“Can Public Advocate Bill de Blasio keep his surge going for seven more days?” asked Maurice Carroll, director of Quinnipiac’s Polling Institute. “If he does, his first contribution could be to the New York City budget – saving the expense of a run-off election.”
Disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner got 7 percent of the support among those polled, while Sal Albanese and “someone else” got 1 percent.
Eight percent of the 750 likely voters surveyed still weren’t sure who they’ll back on September 10.
If the still-likely runoff occurs, de Blasio appears poised to beat either Quinn or Thompson in a head-to-head.
The poll shows him beating Quinn 66 to 25 in a runoff, and beating Thompson 56 to 36.
The far-left candidate has surged nearly 30 percentage points in the polls since July largely by focusing on issues that have seemed to capture the public’s attention — from fighting hospital closings to his multi-racial family, and even his son Dante’s impressive afro.
De Blasio’s remarkable run has also gotten a big boost from the fall of Anthony Weiner, who dropped from 26 percent in the polls in July to 7 percent today.