It’d be tempting to do a headline about New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner saying he vows to stay in the race with the headline: “WEINER STIFFENS RESOLVE,” but I would NEVER show such a lack of good taste. And that headline wouldn’t matter now.
He is now toast. Or, rather, a roasted Weiner. There’s more bad news involving him — and a bad poll.
If news that he had “sexted” one woman since claiming he had stopped put his victory into question, the new news now ends his hopes: the count is now up to THREE WOMEN that he sexted since he got out of office and said he’d turn over a new leaf.
And he did turn over a new leaf.
A fig leaf.
The latest poll indicates he’s done:
The new NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist Poll released Thursday found Weiner’s favorability rating among registered Democrats has tanked since June, from 52 percent to 30 percent, according to the poll conducted Wednesday. Over that same period, the percentage of Democrats who said they had an unfavorable impression of Weiner spiked from 36 to 55.
His lead over City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has also evaporated; 25 percent of Democrats said they’d now vote for her in the Sept. 10 Democratic primary, and 16 percent said they’d back Weiner. A poll conducted last month had Weiner leading Quinn 25 percent to 20 percent.
“These new revelations have cost Anthony Weiner the lead in the Democratic field,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “His negatives are at an all-time high.”
The reversal puts Weiner among a pack of contenders for the second spot in a runoff, which is looking increasingly likely, as no single candidate appears able to break the 40 percent mark. Weiner is now in a statistical tie with Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and former Comptroller Bill Thompson, who are both at 14 percent.
If it had been one more case, he might have squeeked through. Three cases total — he’s finished and will never hold another elected office.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.