NYC mayor primary day: Candidates make mad dash as black vote is up for grabs

In days leading up to the Tuesday’s primary election, Democratic candidates in the hotly contested New York City mayor’s race made their final push to persuade voters and get out the vote.

 A shift in polling from last week shows the public is still undecided. Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is leading among likely Democratic voters with 39 percent support, according the latest Quinnipiac University poll – not enough to avoid a runoff and a four-point drop from where he was a week prior. Former Comptroller Bill Thompson made gains over the week, going from 20 to 25 percent and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn rounds out third with 18 percent.

Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner is in fourth place with 6 percent, followed by Comptroller John Liu with 4 percent.

 “It looks as if Public Advocate Bill de Blasio couldn’t hold that 43 percent in a week when he was in the spotlight and he got walloped by everybody. His support by black voters slipped just enough to make a runoff possible. But he’s ever so close,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Black voters are expected to comprise nearly 30 percent of the primary electorate in the race for New York City mayor. With 15 percent of black voters still undecided and 18 percent of respondents saying there is still a “good chance” they’ll change their mind before Tuesday, the candidates hit the trail hard to shore up support.

 Read more at theGrio.com.