A new poll shows that Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is dominating the New York City race for mayor.
The latest Quinnipiac poll, which was conducted largely over the Labor Day holiday weekend, reveals that the public advocate's numbers have skyrocketed to 43 percent, surpassing the 40 percent threshold needed to avoid a primary runoff. He is also far out-pacing his next closest rivals Bill Thompson and Christine Quinn, who stand at 20 and 18 percent of the vote, respectively.
At the same time, de Blasio has also gained major ground in what should be his opponents' bases of support. Quinn might be the only woman in the race, but de Blasio trumps her among female voters with 44 percent to her 18 percent, according to the poll of 750 likely voters.
That poll also shows de Blasio has garnered nearly double the support from black voters as Thompson, the only African-American in the race, with 47 percent of black voters telling pollsters they back de Blasio and compared to 25 percent supporting Thompson.
Anthony Weiner, an one-time front runner, is lagging far behind in the race with 7 percent of supporters, while City Comptroller John Liu holds just 4 percent. A total of 8 percent of voters tell pollsters they're still undecided.
The poll marks a staggering and rapid rise for de Blasio who was stuck in fourth place as recently as July. Last week a Quinnipiac poll had de Blasio in the lead with 36 percent of the vote.
De Blasio, 52, is campaigning on a promise to increase taxes on wealthy New Yorkers who earn over half a million dollars annually to pay for pre-kindergarten and after-school programs, notes USA Today. Like the other Democrats in the race, he has vowed to curb the practice of "stop and frisk" among the NYPD which has been criticized for disproportionately targeting minorities.
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