Poll: Weiner Collapses

WSJ reports:

The latest revelation that Anthony Weiner continued to engage in sexually explicit conversations on the Internet following his 2011 resignation from Congress has dramatically hurt his standing in the race for New York City mayor, sending his unfavorability rating to an all-time high, a new poll from The Wall Street Journal-NBC 4 New York-Marist showed.

Among registered Democrats, including those who are undecided yet leaning toward a candidate, 25% support City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and 16% support Mr. Weiner, a 14 percentage point swing in Ms. Quinn's favor compared with a poll taken several weeks ago. The poll put Mr. Weiner in a statistical tie for second place with Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and former City Comptroller Bill Thompson, who had 14%, while Comptroller John Liu was at 7%.

Ms. Quinn has regained her status as the clear front-runner in the race.

Mr. Weiner's unfavorability rating surged to 55% in the poll—the first to be taken since he admitted on Tuesday that he continued to send lewd messages and photos following his June 2011 resignation—compared with an unfavorability rating of 36% in June.

"These new revelations have cost Anthony Weiner the lead in the Democratic field," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. "His negatives are at an all-time high. There's been a significant erosion in people's willingness to say he deserves another chance. They are more reluctant to grant that."