Brooklyn loves Bob!
If Brooklynites alone determined the victor in the fight to replace disgraced Rep. Anthony Weiner, GOP candidate Bob Turner would be the candidate we would choose, according to a new Siena College Research Institute Poll.
Forty-nine percent of Brooklynites questioned told pollsters that they would vote for Turner if the election was held tomorrow — a slight increase over the 43 percent who would vote for Assemblyman David Weprin, the democratic nominee. Eight percent of Brooklyn voters said that weren’t sure who they would vote for.
But Brooklyn makes up only one third of Weiner’s district, which is shared by Queens. Queens voters ultimately put Weprin over the top, with 50 percent of them voting for the Democratic candidate. Forty percent voted for Turner.
The poll shows that Turner trails Weprin by a slim six percent, a figure that emboldened the Republican candidate on Aug. 10 as he held a $100 a person fundraiser at the El Caribe in Mill Island.
“The poll showed us that we can win and identified the issues that we need to do a little more work,” he said. “The road map is there. We still have a lot of hard work to do, but we can do it and win.”
Turner certainly has an uphill battle: Democrats in Weiner’s district, which includes portions of Midwood, Sheepshead Bay and Marine Park, outnumber Republicans four to one. But the district is teeming with conservative democrats who have been known to elect Republicans. In 2010, Turner received 42-percent of the vote when he went toe-to-toe against Weiner — before the recently married pol was caught “sexting” and sending lurid e-mails to a half-dozen women across the country.
Weprin and Turner will face off during a special election on Sept. 13.
Neither candidate is from Brooklyn, but Weprin has more of a Brooklyn pedigree than his Republican opponent: Weprin’s parents were raised in the borough and he routinely takes his kids to Coney Island. Turner has made no such claims.
Calls to Weprin’s camp for comment on how Brooklyn voted in the Sienna poll were not returned by late Tuesday.
The results of the Sienna Poll comes amid a week of endorsements for both candidates.
Last Wednesday, Rep Michael Grimm (R–Bay Ridge) endorsed Turner for Congress. Former Mayor Guiliani followed suit, endorsing him on Monday. Weprin also received a host of endorsements, most notably from Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Park Slope resident. Gov. Cuomo and Borough President Markowitz have also endorsed Weprin.
