In NYC mayoral race, DeBlasio widens lead over Quinn, Weiner with seven days left

The public advocate who started the New York City mayoral race as a long-shot candidate has extended his lead and pushed past the 40 percent threshold, which would spare him a runoff with other candidates in the Democratic primary, according to a poll released Tuesday.

The Quinnipiac University Poll released on Tuesday shows 43 percent of likely voters supporting New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.

The primary election is Sept. 10, and the winner will likely win the November general election against the Republican nominee, since the majority of New York City voters are Democrats.

Former City Comptroller William Thompson has 20 percent of the likely vote, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has 18 percent and former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner has 7 percent, according to the poll.

DeBlasio also leads in two key voting blocs -- blacks (47 percent) and women (44 percent).

The results Tuesday follow the university’s Aug. 28 poll in which De Blasio led with 36 percentage points, followed by Quinn with 21 percent, Thompson with 20 percent and Weiner with 8 percent.

Quinn and Weiner were the early leaders. However, Weiner’s run faltered after revelations in July that he had continued to send women sexually explicit messages via social media after resigning from Congress over the issue in June 2011.

Quinn’s campaign has been hurt by critics who continue to point out that in 2008 she help lead a City Council effort to successfully overturn term limits, allowing Mayor Michael Bloomberg to win a third term.

The likely Republican primary winner will be former Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Joseph Lhota, with 48 percent of likely voters now support him, according the Quinnipiac poll.