The Democratic race for mayor is coming down to a tight, three-way slugfest.
A new poll released last night showed that the topsy-turvy campaign is now a dead heat between Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, each with 24 percent.
Right behind is former Comptroller Bill Thompson at 18 percent.
Former Rep. Anthony Weiner and Comptroller John Liu are behind at 11 and 5 percent, respectively.
“The major change from our previous poll is that Weiner has faded and de Blasio has shown noticeable gains, especially in The Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College polling institute, which conducted the survey for the Wall Street Journal and WNBC4.
Miringoff offered this advice for the Sept. 10 primary: “Right now, candidates who want to make the runoff need to be having a greater TV presence.”
Under the election law, If no candidate gets at least 40 percent of the primary vote, the two top finishers will face each other in a runoff on Oct. 2. Observers say that’s likely.
A Quinnipiac poll two days ago had de Blasio in first place with 30 percent to Quinn’s 24.
Last month, Marist calculated that Quinn was leading the pack.
“I’m not surprised that we’re seeing — which you can bet the mortgage on — polls go up and down,” Quinn said yesterday on MSNBC.
Joe Lhota led Republicans with a 33-22 percent advantage over John Catsimatidis.
In the city comptroller’s race, ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer held a commanding lead over Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, 54 to 36 percent — almost identical to Quinnipiac’s earlier poll.
But Marist’s surveyors said a majority of voters weren’t ready to absolutely commit in that contest.
Only 43 percent said they are firmly with their first choice for comptroller, with 37 percent calling themselves “somewhat committed” and 17 percent saying they could change their minds.
In a probable mayoral runoff, it was tough to pick a winner in two of the three likely matchups. De Blasio had 44 percent to Quinn’s 42 percent, well within the poll’s margin of error.
Thompson was ahead of Quinn by a single percentage point, 44-43 percent, while de Blasio was bypassing Thompson, 44-36 percent.
Miringoff said his poll varied from Quinnipiac’s because the Q poll sampled a higher percentage of African-Americans, among whom de Blasio is stronger than Quinn, while Marist surveyed more Hispanics, who tend to favor Quinn.