Democrat Bill de Blasio maintained a commanding lead over Joe Lhota in the race to replace outgoing New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, according to a new poll released just 15 days before voters go to the polls.
De Blasio, the public advocate, is ahead of his Republican rival 68 percent to 24 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday. That is down slightly from the 50 point spread enjoyed by de Blasio in the last Quinnipiac poll, which was published Oct. 5.
But time appears to be running out for Lhota, the former head of the city's transit agency.
Only 5 percent of the 973 likely voters surveyed by the poll remain undecided and only 8 percent said there's a "good chance" they could change their mind before the Nov. 5 election.
De Blasio, the public advocate, has not had a lead smaller than 40 points in any poll taken since the general election match-up was set. Independent candidate Adolfo Carrion was at 2 percent in the new Quinnipiac poll, which has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
The triumphant poll came on a busy day for de Blaiso, who is looking to become the first Democrat elected mayor since 1989.
Monday night he will be the guest of honor at a glittering Manhattan fundraiser hosted by Hillary Clinton as she takes another step back onto the public stage after leaving her post as Secretary of State earlier this year. Though rumors are swirling about her possible 2016 White House run, she has largely stayed out of the spotlight except for this event and a pair of fundraisers for another longtime ally, Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe.
Politics
"There's literally no one more respected in this country than Secretary Clinton, and her vote of confidence is crucially important," de Blasio told reporters Monday at a Manhattan news conference.
De Blasio's ties to the Clinton political dynasty run deep. He ran Clinton's successful 2000 Senate campaign and worked for her President Bill Clinton's administration in the 1990s. The event, which is being held at the Roosevelt Hotel, is expected to draw hundreds of people and raise $1 million, according to a person with knowledge of the event not authorized to speak publically about fundraising.
The Democrat joked that he saw a lot of similarities between Clinton and his wife, political activist Chirlane McCray.
"For that year of my life, you know, I would go to work and I worked for a strong-willed, forceful, progressive Wellesley woman," he said. "And I went home to a strong-willed, forceful, progressive Wellesley woman."
De Blasio also joined state attorney general Eric Schneiderman to urge the major smartphone manufacturers, including Apple, Samsung and Motorola, to bolster security on their devices.
They asked the companies to install a "kill switch" on their phones, which allow the device's owner to permanently disable it if it's stolen. That way, the phone would become useless, taking away its value to a would-be thief.
Approximately 20 percent of all thefts in New York City are of smartphones.
