So Far, Spitzer Has Been Teflon In The Face Of Weiner's Countless Woes

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – They are linked in lust.

Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer both resigned because of sex scandals. Both are running for city office. But are Weiner's new troubles hurting the former governor's campaign for comptroller?

As CBS 2's Marcia Kramer reported Thursday, there's joy in Spitzer-land.

The latest polls may have Weiner's popularity sinking like a stone, but they also show Weiner's new scandals are sticking -- only to him.

On the other hand, "Client Number 9" is free and clear.

"If you look at Weiner versus Spitzer there's a big difference in whether people want to give a second chance. Whether they would do a good job the direction of those two campaigns is decidedly different," Marist pollster Lee Miringoff told Kramer.

The new XXX-rated sexting scandal engulfing Weiner's campaign and causing his popularity to plummet hasn't touched Spitzer, according to a new Marist poll.

Among Democrats likely to vote in the primary, Spitzer leads Scott Stringer 48-36 percent. Last month, Spitzer led 44-36.

"Spitzer's campaign is moving along and Weiner's campaign has really hit a huge bump in the road," Miringoff said.

And it hit another bump in the road Thursday with Weiner admitting that when he stood next to his wife, Huma Abedin, earlier in the week and admitted to one raunchy new sexting scandal with a 22-year-old woman, well, he wasn't exactly coming clean.

It seems there were more.

"I don't believe I had any more than three," Weiner said.

And that raises another question: Just how effective was it for Weiner to have his wife in the limelight publicly saying she has forgiven his indiscretions? Pollsters found it didn't matter much.

* 73 percent of voters say Adedin's support had no impact on how much trust they have in her husband to be mayor

* 15 percent say her backing makes them more likely to trust him

* 12 percent say it makes them less likely to trust him

"It had no positive effect. I think had she not been there and she had not provided the support that she did I think it would have been a disaster for the Weiner campaign. He desperately needed her to say things are good now," Miringoff said. "But in and of itself it did not turn around perceptions about Anthony Weiner and whether he should be the next mayor."

Weiner did try to get his campaign back on a normal track Thursday, going to a Brooklyn soup kitchen to peel carrots and highlight the needs of non-profit groups. But he was also peppered with questions about why his wife is supporting him.

"Huma understands something else: I love her. She loves me. We have a son. None of the rest of it really matters," Weiner said. "But this fight is not about me. This fight is about trying to have a conversation with voters."

The poll also shows that, right now, scandals are costing Weiner. He was ahead in many polls, but now he's not. It remains to be seen whether voters are willing or not to give him a second chance. He's already received that, but a third chance?

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