New Yorkers may not get Anthony Weiner, but they may be about to see the return to public office of Eliot Spitzer.
Buoyed by black voters, Spitzer -- the once-popular former Empire State governor who resigned after he was implicated in a prostitution scandal -- has a 19-point lead in the race for New York City Comptroller.
He leads Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer 56-37 percent in a Quinnipiac poll of New York Democratic primary voters out Wednesday. That’s a 14-point jump in the survey from three weeks ago, when Spitzer led narrowly, 49-45 percent.
Black voters back him by a whopping 68-21 percent margin over Stringer. Stringer leads with whites 53-43 percent.
“Everyone seems to be against former Gov. Eliot Spitzer except the voters, especially black voters,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, in a press release.
Spitzer also leads with men 58-37 percent and even women 54-36 percent.
Just less than one-in-four Democrats -- 23 percent -- say his past behavior is disqualifying.
Compare that to the 51 percent who said in a Quinnipiac poll out Tuesday that they would not vote for the other scandal-plagued New York pol, who has gotten much more of the attention -- former Congressman Weiner, who is running for mayor.