Former Democratic lawmaker Anthony Weiner has edged ahead in the race for the party’s nomination for New York’s mayoral election, a poll showed Monday.
Weiner, who quit Congress in 2011 after it emerged he had exchanged sexually explicit messages and photos with various women on Twitter, now leads New York City Council speaker Christine Quinn.
The Quinnipiac University poll showed Weiner has opened up a three-point advantage over his rival, leading by 25 percent to 22 percent.
Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer — another high-profile Democrat whose stellar political career went up in flames after a sex scandal — is also on the comeback trail in New York.
Spitzer, who quit as governor in 2008 after it emerged he had regularly visited prostitutes, is bidding to become the city’s financial controller.
Spitzer is currently the front-runner for the position according to Quinnipiac, leading rival Scott Stringer with 48 percent to 33 percent.
The survey said both Weiner and Spitzer appeared to be benefiting from New York voters’ relaxed attitude towards sex scandals.
Of those questioned, 69 percent said they regarded financial scandals as more serious than sexual impropriety. Only 22 percent took the opposite view.
New York’s primary elections are due on September 10 ahead of the mayoral election November 5.
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