Michelle Wu Holds Big Lead In New Poll In Boston Mayor's Race
BOSTON (CBS) - The new Boston mayoral preliminary election poll from Suffolk University and the Boston Globe finds a clear frontrunner and a wild scramble for the second ticket to the final.
City Councilor Michelle Wu is comfortably in first place on the strength of across-the-board support. She leads among men, women, white, Hispanic and Asian voters and voters younger than 50.
Then it's a virtual tie between Acting Mayor Kim Janey, who wins a near-majority of Black voters, Councilor Annissa Essaibi George who is leading in several key predominantly-white wards, and Councilor Andrea Campbell, who pulls a quarter of the Black vote and nearly doubles Janey's support among whites.
There's been a large pool of undecided voters in this race, but the Suffolk/Globe poll finds they're starting to make up their minds. The undecideds are at eight percent now compared with 22 percent back in June. And 15 percent of Black voters remain on the fence, the largest remaining pool of undecideds.
So that makes the voters' second choice especially interesting.
Campbell and Wu are virtually tied on that list, but Campbell's 23 percent is up seven points from June. Essaibi George is up six points, while Janey's standing has remained essentially unchanged.
That may hint at a possible final-week bump for Campbell or Essaibi George, but these numbers are so close it's truly a jump ball. Pardon the ancient cliché, but who shows up to vote and where they show up will make all the difference.
In the meantime, if you're looking for more information about the major candidates, check out our interviews in which we ask them all the same issue-related questions so voters can compare their answers. And if you're a Boston voter, don't forget to cast your ballot, then watch it count with our extensive preliminary election coverage on CBSN Boston starting at 8pm on September 14th.
