NYC Comptroller Race Poll - Eliot Spitzer Opens Big Lead

The Comptroller's race in New York City may be turning into a blowout, with formerly disgraced Governor Eliot Spitzer opening up at 19-point lead over Manhattan Burrough President Scott Stringer in the Democratic primary, according to the latest Quinnipiac poll, released August 14th.

That poll represents the latest step in Spitzer's redemption in the New York political circuit following his fall from grace in March of 2008, when the governor was forced to resign his title after his solicitation of prostitution came to the public's attention.

According to the poll, Spitzer's lead amongst likely Democratic voters is 56 - 37 percent, up from a 4-point lead in the same poll taken on July 25^th. These findings are in keeping with a New York Times poll, taken August 8^th, that showed Spitzer opening up a 9-point-lead.

In the Quinnipiac poll, demographic splits by gender shows that there's no gap between men and women voters; the largest gap, instead, seems to be by racial divisions.

Amongst Black/African American voters, Spitzer holds a commanding 68-21 point lead. African Americans make up 25.1% of the New York population. By contrast, Stringer leads white voters 53-43 percent.  Requests by Latinos Post for data on the Hispanic subset of the poll were denied, with a spokesperson citing that the small sample size of Hispanic respondents the results unreliable.

Since entering the race, Spitzer - who comes from considerable wealth - has massively outspent his opponent. The former governor had spent more than $3.7 million dollars as of an August 10^th story by the New York Times, of which more than $2 million has gone into television advertising. Mr. Stringer, by contrast, has spent $173,000.

This has lead a round of attacks against Spitzer, accusing him of trying to buy the election.

"Eliot Spitzer spent more per day getting his name on the ballot than the median New York City voter makes in a year," Audrey Gelman, a spokeswoman for Mr. Stringer, told the Times.

Whether that's true or not, it seems that Stringer will need a game changer to to overcome the formerly-scandalized governor in the race.