Politics

Poll shows tight race to fill Anthony Weiner's seat

By Lucy Madison

August 10, 2011 / 1:27 PM EDT / CBS News

In this Sept. 10, 2009 file photo, David Weprin participates in a debate for the office of comptroller, in New York. Weprin, 55, a Queens assemblyman, has been chosen by Democratic leaders as their candidate to replace Rep. Anthony Weiner, who resigned last month after a sexting scandal. AP Photo/Ken Goldfield, Pool, File

According to a new poll on the special election to fill Anthony Weiner's recently-vacated New York Congress seat, Democrat David Weprin is just a few percentage points ahead of Republican candidate Bob Turner - despite the fact that Democratic voters outweigh Republicans in the district by more than three to one.

The poll, conducted by the Siena College Research Institute in early August, surveyed 501 likely voters in New York's 9th district. Weprin, a State Assemblyman from Queens, led cable television executive Bob Turner by a margin of 48 percent to 42 percent.

But the poll also indicates that the district is overwhelmingly Democratic: 61 percent of respondents identified as Democrats, while just 17 percent identified with Republicans. Nineteen percent identified as independents or other.

According to the survey, Weprin leads Turner by two-to-one among Democrats. Eighty percent of Republicans, however, said they would support Turner over Weprin, while independents seemed to lean toward Turner as well, with 46 percent support to Weprin's 42 percent.

Weprin and Turner, meanwhile, have nearly identical favorability ratings: 31 percent of respondents said they viewed both candidates favorably, while almost half said they didn't know or had no opinion.

Little support remains for Anthony Weiner, on the other hand, who resigned from Congress in June after a weeks-long firestorm surrounding the revelation that he had sent lewd photographs of himself to various women on the Internet. Eighty-nine percent of Republicans said they viewed him unfavorably, as did 63 percent of Democrats and 69 percent of independents.

Regardless of the September 13 election's outcome, however, the future of New York's 9th district remains to be seen: the 2010 census results dictate that the state lose two congressional seats, and NY-9, which covers parts of Brooklyn and Queens, may be at risk of elimination. That means the winner of the special election in may quickly be out of a job.