Two years ago, Anthony Weiner was a political pariah. Today, he is the front-runner in the race to become the next mayor of New York City.
An NBC 4/Wall Street Journal poll conducted by Marist released Tuesday found Weiner leading the Democratic primary field with 25 percent of the vote. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, considered the front-runner for the race before Weiner jumped in, gets 20 percent.
In the last Marist poll at the end of May, Quinn led Weiner 24 percent to 19 percent.
Former Comptroller Bill Thompson gets 13 percent; followed by Public Advocate Bill de Blasio with 10 percent; Comptroller John Liu at 8 percent; Staten Island’s Erick Salgado, a minister, at 2 percent; and former City Councilman Sal Albanese at 1 percent.
In spite of the sexting scandal, registered New York voters are growing more and more open to the idea of voting for Weiner. Forty-nine percent of registered voters said they would consider voting for the former congressman, compared to 40 percent a month ago. The percentage of voters who said they would not even consider voting for him dropped from 52 percent last month to 45 percent in the most recent poll.
The primary is Sept. 10. The election is set for Nov. 5.