Poll: Anthony Weiner drops to fourth place in mayor's race

Anthony Weiner has tumbled to fourth place in the polls since the most recent revelations about his illicit online liaisons, according to a Quinnipiac University Poll released Monday.

A majority of Democratic voters also believe he should quit the New York City mayoral race, the survey found.

"He's going down, down, down," poll director Maurice Carroll said. "He's in free fall. . . . He cannot win."

The former congressman is supported by 16 percent of likely Democratic voters, compared with 27 percent for City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, 21 percent for Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and 20 percent for former city Comptroller Bill Thompson, the survey found.

The poll found that 53 percent of voters believe Weiner should drop out, while 40 percent want him to stay in.

Weiner had been polling at or near the front of the pack of Democratic contenders before it was revealed last Tuesday he continued illicit online liaisons after his 2011 resignation from Congress for similar behavior.

Weiner repeated his resolve to remain in the race and let New Yorkers decide his fate on Primary Day, Sept. 10.

"As I've said before, polls don't change anything," Weiner said in reaction to the Quinnipiac survey. "But I continue to be grateful and humbled by the continued support of so many New Yorkers who are willing to give me a second chance."

Asked last night whether he would quit at the urging of Hillary or Bill Clinton, Weiner said, "I am not terribly interested in what people who are not voters in the city of New York have to say." Weiner said he was concerned with the views of New Yorkers.

"I am focused like a laser beam on their interests," he said.

During the day in Flushing, Weiner had said he intended to "keep talking about things important to this city. I don't really care if a lot of pundits or politicians are offended by that."

The poll of 446 likely Democratic primary voters was taken between last Wednesday and Sunday, after the latest chapter of the sex scandal came to light.

Top Democrats, including David Axelrod, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, and former Bill Clinton spokeswoman Dee Dee Myers on Sunday called for Weiner to leave the race. Weiner also has confirmed that his campaign manager Danny Kedem had resigned, although Weiner would not disclose why.He briefly greeted seniors at a Flushing senior center, where he tried his hand at Mandarin to polite applause. Most in the crowd of about 120 did not speak English and a translator helped Weiner convey his platform, which targets housing, street safety and community centers.

Weiner told reporters in Flushing he was "going to leave this to the people of the City of New York to decide. Period. End of conversation. It's their decision. It's not yours. It's not mine. . . . It's up to the people, and I'm going to keep fighting for them, to give them a choice."

Weiner demonstrated the same defiance in an email sent Monday to supporters.

"Well, at least they are consistent," he wrote of critics calling for him to quit. "These same folks have been howling about me running from the moment I first got in."On MSNBC's "Hardball" Monday, Chris Matthews asked former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who is running for city comptroller after a prostitution scandal, whether he would fire an employee for sexting on the job.

"I think the answer is yes," Spitzer replied.

The Quinnipiac Poll has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.6 percentage points.

With Mark Harrington