Former Congressman Anthony Weiner, who announced his highly-anticipated mayoral campaign in the wee hours of the morning today, has not managed to make up much ground in public polling since he floated his name a month ago. Indeed, his percentage in the Democratic primary–15 percent–is the exact same in today’s Quinnipiac poll as the firm’s April 19 survey. Read More
In a 14-hour series of events yesterday, Comptroller John Liu formalized his mayoral candidacy as he traversed the city’s five boroughs. Throughout the early part of the day, Mr. Liu showed impressive energy, speed-walking, jogging, and–at one point, at least–literally sprinting from location to location with a band of reporters struggling to catch up. But some of the most memorable moments on the campaign trail came in the evening when Mr. Liu boarded the back of the press van and, munching on donuts, fielded a barrage of questions until the inquiries simply ran out. Notably, Mr. Liu dismissed politicos and pundits who categorize him as a City Hall long-shot due to the ongoing federal investigation into his fundraising.
“I wouldn’t be running–it’s way too much time and money to throw down the drain–if there was not a clear shot to victory,” Mr. Liu told Politicker. Read More
“Okay, the race for the White House is over and it’s time to look at the New York City mayoral race, where the possibly decisive Democratic primary could be as early as June. The morning line? City Council Speaker Christine Quinn leaves the other Democratic contenders in the dust,” Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a statement with his latest survey.
The numbers indeed show Ms. Quinn far ahead, with 32% support among registered Democrats, even as she faces off against two citywide elected officials, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Comptroller John Liu, and 2009′s nominee, Bill Thompson. Mr. Thompson barely edged out Mr. de Blasio for the silver medal, 10 to 9 percent, with Mr. Liu standing at 5 percent. Read More
Is it the wet fleece? It’s not immediately clear, but according to a new Quinnipiac University Polling Institute survey, New York City voters gave the highest storm response-marks to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, preferring his tactics over President Barack Obama, Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Quinnipiac’s director, Maurice Carroll, said these numbers can be attributed to Mr. Christie’s full embrace of Mr. Obama in the wake of the storm.
“The storm-of-the-century brings out the best in Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New Yorkers say. But that love fest between New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie and President Barack Obama seems to have moved voters especially,” Mr. Carroll explained in a statement. “While all four leaders get very high marks – it seems a hug or two never hurts.” Read More
As New Yorkers crowd into long lines, waiting for the right to vote at polling sites that may or may not have functional machines to tally the votes, Mayor Michael Bloomberg held another press conference to update the city on its recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. While addressing the storm, Mr. Bloomberg, who has criticized the local Board of Elections in the past, did not hold back in his frustration with the issues at the polls today.
“People all around the world would like to have our freedoms and to keep them and extend them, we have to exercise them. I know many people, including myself, are encountering lines at the polls. Be patient, it’s worth the wait,” he said. “From the reports that we’ve gotten, the Board of Elections has run into problems, including late delivery of machines to some sites and late openings. Also, this morning, we learned the Board failed to secure enough fuel for generators at least one poll site; we became aware of it and the Department of Education did deliver fuel to that polling site….If these were the only problems the Board of Elections encountered today, we should consider ourselves very lucky. But, unfortunately, based on its history, that is not likely to be the case.” Read More
“We have some other type of crisis here, partially organized by Hurricane Sandy, partially organized by the Board of Elections,” Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny told Politicker this morning, ticking off poll sites that did not receive machines until 8:04 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. respectively, over an hour after they were scheduled to open. “My question is, if they knew, if the Board of Elections knew yesterday this was the poll site that would be assigned today, were they sleeping this morning? It disenfranchises many people.”
We asked if there might be a possibility of a re-do election.
“That is a possibility, I think,” he answered, noting all of the Hurricane Sandy-induced chaos was in the Democratic parts of his district. “I have two parts of the district. Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights, which is conservative, and Coney Island and Sea Gate, which is much more liberal, and I’m a Democrat….This is all becoming totally ridiculous. This is not about me, of course. This is about 40,000 voters losing the right to vote.” Read More
In a conference call this afternoon, President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign had one central message for their supporters when Election Day arrives tomorrow: They should “keep calm,” even if they hear snippets of information favoring Republican Mitt Romney.
“My warning, we need to stay calm for much of the day,” Stephanie Cutter, Mr. Obama’s deputy campaign manager, said, touting thousands of early ballots already submitted by voters. “We’ve already banked a pretty big portion of our vote.” Read More
For presidential contests, Ohio is important. Every politico knows that.
This year’s race between President Barack Obama and his Republican rival Mitt Romney is proving to be no exception. Just a couple days ago, The New York Times’s widely respected number-cruncher Nate Silver released an analysis giving Ohio a 50-50 chance of deciding the next occupant of the White House. Read More
President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign is currently sitting pretty, at least as far as the polls go. Survey after survey of key swing states, including the two crucial contests in Ohio and Florida, continue to show the incumbent pulling slowly but surely ahead of his Republican rival Mitt Romney. So much so, that Mr. Obama’s campaign is apparently urging its staff to avoid overconfidence.
Asked about the current numbers during a gaggle with reporters on board Air Force One, the president’s campaign press secretary, Jen Psaki, dismissed the polls and vowed to keep focus, with a “series of sports metaphors that run the gamut from horse racing to putt putt,” according to a press pool report. Read More
Yesterday morning, Quinnipiac Polling Institute released its latest polling numbers for the leading contenders of the 2013 mayoral race. While it’s still early and multi-candidate primary elections are notoriously hard to poll, the numbers did show Council Speaker Christine Quinn in a rather strong starting position and her opponents struggling with relative support and name recognition. Subsequently, various consultants weighed in on why that might be, but one of Ms. Quinn’s theoretical rivals also did so personally in an interview on Inside City Hall.
“Listen, these polls are what they are,” Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer countered when his 4% citywide standing was raised. “At the end of the day, the poll that counts is going to be the one late next year when we vote for who the next mayor is and the other citywide offices are.” Read More
