After a four week charm offensive tour, newly entered mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner completed his comeback kid mission with new poll showing him leapfrogging into the lead as the preferred choice for NYC’s Democratic voters.

Weiner leads Quinn 25 percent to 20 percent among registered Democrats, a new poll by NBC4/Marist/Wall Street Journal found. The next closest contender in the Democratic primary is Bill Thompson, with 13 percent of registered Democrats saying they’d vote for him, up 2 points from May. Public Advocate Bill de Blasio dropped to fourth place with 10 percent, a drop of 2 points. John Liu is at 8 percent, Rev. Erick Salgado at 2 percent and former City Councilman Sal Albanese at 1 percent.

Forty-nine percent said they’d consider voting for Mr. Weiner, up from 40 percent two months ago, before Weiner entered the race. Those who said they wouldn’t consider voting for him dropped from 52 percent to 45 percent.

The next closest contender in the Democratic primary is former Comptroller Bill Thompson, with 13 percent of registered Democrats saying they’d vote for him, up 2 percentage points from May. Public Advocate Bill de Blasio follows with 10 percent, who dropped 2 points. Then comes current Comptroller John Liu at 8 percent, Staten Island minister Erick Salgado at 2 percent and former City Councilman Sal Albanese at 1 percent.

“The race changed when he got into the race, and he’s been able to survive returning to electoral politics, at least to this point,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “Weiner’s candidacy has gotten more acceptable to voters since he announced, (and) Quinn’s having a difficult time reversing what has been a slow but steady decline in her numbers,” he added.

Weiner also saw his favorability rating among Democrats jump from 44 percent to 52 percent. His negative rating dropped from 44 percent to 36 percent.

(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)