With a week to go until primary day, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio surged to a whooping 43 percent of likely voters in the Democratic primary for mayor, possibly avoiding a runoff, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday afternoon.

Bill Thompson is 23 points behind with 20 percent. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is at 18% and Anthony Weiner dropped to a mere 7 percent. 8 percent of Democratic voters reamin undecided.

Mr. de Blasio’s lead is even bigger among women voters with 44 percent for de Blasio, 19 percent for Thompson and 18 percent for Quinn. Mr. de Blasio is also crushing Bill Thompson among Black voters. While 47 percent go for de Blasio, only 25 percent are supportive of Bill Thompson.

“Can Public Advocate Bill de Blasio keep his surge going for seven more days? If he does, his first contribution could be to the New York City budget – saving the expense of a run- off election,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Dante’s big Afro is the campaign image everyone remembers. What a TV commercial! What a boost with everyone who has kids! What a plus in the black community!”

“Whether it’s Dante or the issues, or a mixture of both, de Blasio leads Speaker Christine Quinn among women and former Comptroller Bill Thompson among black voters,” Carroll added.

“Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s collapse could be part of a seeming New York tradition of throwing female candidates under the bandwagon wheels. Well-known women such as Carol Bellamy, Mary Codd and Ruth Messinger all came up short.”

If there is a Democratic primary runoff, matchups are:

De Blasio over Quinn 66 – 25 percent;
De Blasio leads Thompson 56 – 36 percent;
Thompson tops Quinn 59 – 33 percent.

Nonetheless, seven days until the primary, 24 percent of likely Democratic primary voters say there is a good chance they will change their mind, but 61 percent of Thompson voters, 59 percent of de Blasio backers and 56 percent of Quinn supporters say they definitely will vote for their candidate.

On the Republican side, Former Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Joseph Lhota has 48 percent of likely Republican primary voters, with 24 percent for businessman John Catsimatidis and 10 percent for Doe Fund founder George McDonald.

“With his liberal platform, de Blasio would be a tempting target for Joseph Lhota and the Republicans, if the race works out that way,” Carroll said.

(Jacob kornbluh – YWN)