Collapse: Weiner goes limp in new post-scandal poll

Dare I say that his numbers have turned flaccid? Or would that be too hacky even for me? Trick question: Nothing’s too hacky for me, my friends.

Alternate headline via Popehat: “Clearly flawed or hacked poll implies New Yorkers have taste.”

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Mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner has suffered a massive erosion of support among New York City Democrats following revelations this week that his sexting with women continued long after his 2011 resignation from Congress, a new NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist Poll has found.

Weiner’s favorability rating among registered Democrats has tanked since June, from 52 percent to 30 percent, according to the poll conducted Wednesday. Over that same period, the percentage of Democrats who said they had an unfavorable impression of Weiner spiked from 36 to 55.

His lead over City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has also evaporated; 25 percent of Democrats said they’d now vote for her in the Sept. 10 Democratic primary, and 16 percent said they’d back Weiner. A poll conducted last month had Weiner leading Quinn 25 percent to 20 percent.

Last month 59 percent of city Dems said he deserved a second chance. That number’s down now to 45 percent. So much for the “if Huma says it’s okay, it’s okay” strategy.

There is some good news for Weiner fans, though. He’s pretty sure that he’s only had three online sexual relationships since resigning from Congress. He’s confident that it’s no more than that. But, as usual, he can’t say with certitude:

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Mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner said Thursday that he may have engaged in online sexual relationships with up to three women since resigning from Congress in 2011.

“I don’t believe I had any more than three,” he said when asked at a press conference how many relationships since his resignation were sexual in nature…

Weiner told reporters Wednesday that he estimated there had been six to 10 women with whom he had virtually engaged in total. He declined to give specifics.

Embarrassing confession: I feel a bit of sympathy for him. I know that’s verboten because he’s a hard-left liberal and, by nearly universal acclaim at this point, a weaselly sleaze, but it’s painful to watch someone torch every last bit of dignity they have to chase their demons. He’s not quite Amanda Bynes, but that analogy seems less inapt by the day. Even his old friends from the New York congressional delegation think he needs “serious psychiatric help.” Why his wife lets him persist in this self-immolation at this point, I have no idea. Clearly, after this poll and the near-certainty of more sexting revelations to come, they’re not going to be the first couple of New York. Weiner calculated, I think, that running now was a good idea because, even if he ended up losing, all the embarrassing stuff left over from 2011 would come out during the campaign and be old news by the time of the next mayoral election in four years. As it turned out, the spectacle of this guy holding a “here’s why new pictures of my wang are on the Internet again” presser for the second time in three years just confirms the suspicion that he lacks the good sense to be trusted with any kind of power. Between that and the fact that, unlike Spitzer, he has no real record to run on either, he’s done as a public servant.

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The companion piece to that that you should read today is Politico’s story on the real reason why Weiner was never going to win. He has no field operation; if he made it to the run-off, he’d be out-organized. In many ways, he’s a surprisingly amateur politician for a guy who’s been in office for so long. Except even an amateur would have realized that three post-scandal online affairs is three too many.

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