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Poll: Quinn Maintains Early Lead In NYC Mayor's Race

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- An early poll shows City Council Speaker Christine Quinn maintaining her lead ahead of other Democrats in next year's New York City mayor's race.

The Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday shows Quinn winning the support of 29 percent of the city's registered Democrats.

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"City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is the early favorite in the Democratic primary for mayor, which could be the only race that counts if Republicans don't find a candidate," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

1010 WINS' Stan Brooks reports

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Participants in the poll were asked who they'd vote for if the election were today.

Three-out-of-10 said Quinn. Former city Comptroller Bill Thompson got 10 percent. Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and current Comptroller John Liu each won the support of 9 percent. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer trailed with 4 percent, and newspaper publisher Tom Allon got 1 percent.

Carroll said Quinn being a woman may actually help her campaign.

"Fourteen percent said they'd be more likely to vote for a woman candidate. So this is not only a good poll in that sense but in the just plain mayoral match-up. Christine Quinn 29%. The only other one in double digits in Bill Thompson and he's at ten [percent]. So at this stage in the game, Christine Quinn looks pretty good," Carroll told 1010 WINS' Stan Brooks.

As for Quinn being gay, Carroll said that of those polled, 84% said it wouldn't matter.

The poll also found that while most New Yorkers said they are not prejudiced, more are less likely to vote for an atheist or born-again Christian than a Muslim or a Mormon.

Thirty percent of voters said they would be less likely to vote for an atheist while 27 percent said they would be less likely to vote for a born-again Christian, according to the poll.

"Everybody in New York said they wouldn't be affected by the various potential categories of bias, but on our bias thermometer, born-again Christians and atheists lose worse than anybody else," Carroll told WCBS 880.

The university surveyed 1,298 randomly selected city voters by telephone from Aug. 8 to Aug. 12. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.

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(TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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