De Blasio opens lead in New York's mayoral race

(CNN) – Bill de Blasio, New York City's public advocate, has opened a double digit lead over his Democratic rivals for mayor, a poll showed Friday.

The New York Times/Siena College survey also indicated Eliot Spitzer, a former governor, maintaining his healthy lead in the race for the city's top financial post, the day after another poll showed a dead heat.

In the mayoral contest, de Blasio was at 32% among likely Democratic primary voters. His next-closest rivals – Comptroller Bill Thompson and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn – were at 18% and 17%, respectively.

"De Blasio has significant double digit leads in Brooklyn and Queens, where Thompson is in second place, he is nearly tied with Quinn in Manhattan, and he is virtually tied with Thompson in the Bronx," said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg.

The results from Friday's survey closely match those in a Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday, which had de Blasio well ahead of his rivals at 36%.

The battle for second place between Thompson and Quinn will be closely watched as the race enters its final week - if no candidate grabs more than 40% of the vote in the September 10 primary, the top two vote-getters head to a runoff.

Former Congressman Anthony Weiner, the onetime frontrunner in the mayoral race, was at 11% in Friday's poll. His campaign fizzled after more allegations of lewd sexting earlier this summer.

The comptroller race, which a Thursday Quinnipiac University poll showed in a tie, looked a lot less competitive in Friday's survey. Spitzer, who's making a political comeback bid after a 2008 prostitution scandal, was at 50% and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer stood at 35%.

The Siena poll was conducted August 19-28, while Quinnipiac surveyed voters from August 22-27. In the last week, Stringer's nabbed the endorsement of several New York City newspapers.

"While Stringer is running even with Spitzer in Manhattan, Spitzer leads Stringer by more than 20 points in Queens and the Bronx and has a nine-point lead in Brooklyn," Greenberg said. "Spitzer has a slightly positive 46-41 percent favorability rating and Stringer remains largely unknown to half of the likely voters, with a 31-19 percent favorability rating."

The New York Times/Siena College poll was conducted by telephone August 19-28 from 505 likely Democratic primary voters. The sampling error was plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.