By Howard Koplowitz
State Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Little Neck) is holding a slim six-point lead over Republican Bob Turner for former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner’s seat, according to a poll released last week by Siena College.
“Five weeks until Election Day and this special election is a wide-open race with both candidates trying to become more known to the voters of the district and earn their support,” said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg. “With a low turnout expected and limited media exposure in the nation’s most expensive media market, the test of both campaigns will be to mount strong voter identification efforts and effective get-out-the-vote operations. The campaign that does a better job on those crucial campaign tasks will likely produce a victory for their candidate.”
The poll of 501 likely voters in the district, conducted between Aug. 3 and Aug. 8, showed Weprin edging out Turner 48 percent to 42 percent with 9 percent undecided. The district covers parts of Queens and Brooklyn.
Eight in 10 Republicans said they would vote for Turner while a little more than six in 10 Democrats said they would pull the lever for Weprin.
Turner had a slight lead among independents: 46 percent to 42 percent.
Weprin had a 50 percent to 40 percent edge over Turner among Queens residents of the congressional district while Turner led among Brooklyn voters 49 percent to 43 percent.
A Weprin campaign spokeswoman said the poll showed Weprin leading because he is right on the issues.
“This poll simply confirms what we already know — that David Weprin is winning this election because New Yorkers know they can trust him to protect Medicare and Social Security and reform the tax code to make millionaires and Big Oil pay for their fair share,” Elizabeth Kerr said. “Voters will reject Bob Turner because he supports a plan that will end Medicare as we know it so he can extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and protect tax loopholes for corporations that ship jobs overseas.”
A Turner campaign spokesman could not be reached for comment.
Weprin has large support among Democratic elected officials in Queens, headed by U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley (D-Jackson Heights), Queens Democratic Party chairman, while Turner has former Mayors Ed Koch and Rudolph Giuliani and U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-Massapequa Park) in his corner.
Of six current and former elected officials, 40 percent of those polled say an endorsement from U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) would make them the most likely to support the candidate Schumer chooses to back.
Behind Schumer, an endorsement from Gov. Andrew Cuomo would carry the second-most weight, with 39 percent saying they would support whichever candidate gets the governor’s endorsement.
Weiner, who resigned amid a sexting scandal, is unlikely to make an endorsement but was included in the poll.
Only 15 percent of those polled said they would be more likely to support a candidate Weiner backs, with 34 percent saying they would be less likely to support such a candidate and 49 percent saying it would have no effect.
The poll showed Turner pulling in about a third of registered Democrats and Greenberg said the retired Rockaway businessman will have to do at least that well or better on the day of the election to win.
“This figures to be an interesting five weeks, so stay tuned,” Greenberg said.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.
