Dem leads by small margin in race to fill Rep. Weiner’s seat

Democratic candidate David Weprin leads in the race to succeed resigned Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) in New York’s 9th congressional district by a closer-than-expected margin.

A Siena Research Institute poll found that 48 percent of likely voters in the district, which covers parts of Brooklyn and Queens, would choose Weprin as their next congressman in the Sept. 13 special election.

{mosads}But 42 percent of the district’s voters said they would choose Republican candidate Robert Turner, a surprising figure in a district that’s been held by Democrats for decades.

Nine percent of the district’s voters said they were undecided.

Jobs rate as the No. 1 issue in the district, and voters said they support the debt-ceiling deal recently approved by Congress, as well as President Obama’s healthcare law (though by a smaller margin).

Forty percent of the district’s voters also said that if Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who’d previously held the seat, were to make an endorsement in the race, it would help them make up their mind.

The poll, conducted Aug. 3 to 4 and Aug. 7 to 8, has a 4.4 point margin of error.