On the eve of Tuesday's Democratic primary, recent polls show that Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has a strong double-digit lead in the New York City mayoral race over former comptroller Bill Thompson and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
De Blasio has the support of 39 percent of likely Democratic voters, according to a Quinnipiac poll, and holds 36 percent of the vote, according to a NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist for Public Opinion survey released Monday.
Blasio's polling numbers are shy of the 40 percent threshold he needs to avoid a runoff and advance to the general election against either Joe Lhota or John Catsimatidis, the top candidates in the Republican primary.
The surveys also predict the end of Anthony Weiner's comeback for mayor after he was forced to resign from Congress in 2011 amid a sexting scandal. Weiner, who was once a front runner for mayor, dropped drastically in the polls after the emergence of new sexting messages in July revealed that he continued to engage in X-rated conversations with multiple women even after his resignation.
When asked what he plans to do to gain traction in a recent interview with Latinos Post, Weiner remained defiant, refusing to succumb to telling signs of defeat.
"The polls have been a bit of a roller coaster," Wiener told Latinos Post. "When I actually first got in, I was lagging behind, and then as people got to hear a little bit about the issues and less about the headlines, I rose up. And then there were more things that came out, and it came down."
Nonetheless, Weiner says, "I try not to ride that roller coaster," adding that "I only know how to run one kind of campaign, and that's talking about real ideas for people. And when citizens focus on that, I tend to do pretty well."
The general election will be held on Nov. 5.
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