Poll: Republican Candidates Are In Big Trouble In NYC Mayor's Race

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – There is good news for Democrats in the New York City mayor's race. A new CBS 2 poll has the leading Democratic candidates beating the Republicans.

Twenty years of Republican control of City Hall – yes, Michael Bloomberg was first elected as a Republican -- could end this year according to a new poll.

"It's a Democratic city and there's no particular reason to bring a Republican in at the moment and so people are returning to their partisan base," poll expert Scott Rasmussen told CBS 2's Marcia Kramer on Friday.

Rasmussen explained that the new CBS 2/Rasmussen poll is great news for Democrats. But for Republicans? Not so much.

In a head-to-head matchup, current Democratic frontrunner Christine Quinn is demolishing Republican Joe Lhota. The poll has Quinn at 49 percent and Lhota at 27 percent, with 11 percent favoring some other candidate and 13 percent unsure.

"Whoever wins the Democratic primary is very likely to be the next mayor of New York City," Rasmussen said. "Mayor Bloomberg has left people feeling pretty good about his tenure and as we look forward there's not a burning issue that would bring a Republican to the fore."

Even scandal-scarred Anthony Weiner would beat Lhota if the election was held Friday. The poll has Weiner at 41 percent, Lhota at 32 percent, 12 percent want another candidate and 15 percent say they are unsure.

"The story of Anthony Weiner is going to be a fascinating one to follow. He has to convince people to think of him primarily as a serious political player once again, rather than thinking of him first as the butt of a joke," Rasmussen said.

Weiner has a big hurdle ahead of him. His negatives are running at 50 percent and the big question for the disgraced former congressman is this: If he doesn't do well this time will he have any kind of a political future later on?

"If he does not make the run-off it's going to be very difficult for him to find supporters to mount a comeback with," Rasmussen said.

And there's another interesting finding in the poll – the city's controversial stop-and-frisk program isn't much of a burning issue among voters. Only 27 percent care "a lot" about it, and voters are pretty evenly divided about whether it should continue.

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