Anthony Weiner finishes second in mayoral race, says Marist NBC poll If the primary election occurred today, Weiner comes in behind City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who earned 26% of the vote while Weiner beat other challengers with 15%. While 65% of voters told Marist pollsters in February that they had a positive impression of Quinn, that number dropped to 59% when Marist asked the question over the last week. RELATED: ANTHONY WEINER: I HAVE BILL CLINTON’S 'SUPPORT' 
 
 Anthony DelMundo/New York Daily News 
 
 Though Weiner’s political fortunes seemed doomed two years ago when he resigned from Congress in a sexting scandal, the poll found him besting City Controller John Liu, who was the choice of 12% of voters, as well as Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and former Controller Bill Thompson, who each had the backing of 11% of voters. Miringoff said that Weiner represents enough of a threat to the mayor’s race that he could make it difficult of any candidate in the primary to get the 40% of the vote needed to avoid a runoff election, but the other candidates shrugged off the results. RELATED: SCHUMER DODGES WEINER QUESTIONS 
 
 “His numbers have improved since our previous polls, so that’s encouraging for him but there’s still huge obstacles,” Miringoff said, noting that 45% of registered Democrats wanted Weiner to run for mayor, while 46% were against him entering the race. “That person is Chris Quinn.” 
 
 The poll showed Quinn’s popularity has taken a hit in the last two months as she has been pummeled by other candidates and targeted by a $1 million ad campaign by a Super PAC opposed to her candidacy. Ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner has only been back in contention as a possible mayoral candidate for about a week, but he’s already topping most other candidates in a new opinion poll. RELATED: ANTHONY WEINER POSTS HIS IDEAS FOR NEW YORK 
 
 “[Weiner’s] numbers make him viable even if he hasn’t established a credible candidacy yet,” said pollster Lee Miringoff. A similar poll last October found that only 28% of registered Democrats wanted Weiner, while 56% wanted him to stay out.
– Despite spending $100,000 on polling last month, Anthony Weiner still hasn't thrown his hat into the ring for New York's next mayoral election. But if he did today, he'd enter the race for the Democratic slot in second place, behind confirmed candidate Christine Quinn, a new poll by NBC New York and Marist College has found. Weiner had 15% of the vote among Democrats to Quinn's 26%, and his favorability rating increased from 34% to 45% over the last two months. The news comes on the back of a splashy New York Times Magazine feature, in which Weiner admitted, "I want to ask people to give me a second chance," but said his polling had established him as the underdog. But these latest poll numbers are still notable for a disgraced former politician who hasn't actually mounted a campaign. "[Weiner’s] numbers make him viable even if he hasn’t established a credible candidacy yet," the pollster told the New York Daily News. At the very least, he could be popular enough to prevent Quinn from obtaining the 40% vote she needs to avoid a runoff election. Nevertheless, 41% of respondents still have an unfavorable opinion of Weiner. "I would not vote for him at all," says one 70-year-old Brooklyn resident. "I speak with my neighbors, and they say, 'What is he, a joke?'" (Click for Weiner's wife's thoughts on his sexting scandal.)