Anthony Weiner’s latest sexting scandal might affect his chances at becoming New York City’s mayor more than he’d hoped. As new details are emerging in the sexting scandal of the not-so-distant past, Weiner has started to slip in the polls.
Exclusive details about another Anthony Weiner sexting scandal dating back to last summer (well after his 2011 resignation from Congress) were published on the controversial gossip website The Dirty this week. Though the mayoral hopeful admitted that some of the information published is true, his late-week admissions are painting a much bleaker picture for the scandal-ridden former congressman.
Thursday, Weiner addressed his sexting scandal in more detail and depth than he has since 2011, admitting during a press conference to trading lewd messages with six to 10 women total, and up to three since leaving Congress in 2011. He said that last summer, he stopped for good.
He said that he was still seeking professional help for his behavior, but denied that he had an addiction of some kind.
Losing His Lead
Though Weiner was still leading in the polls early this week, the latest numbers show that he has dropped to a statistical three-way tie for second place among seven Democratic challengers for New York City mayor. In June, Weiner led the race with 25 percent of registered Democrats supporting him. Now he’s at 16 percent.
“These new revelations have cost Anthony Weiner the lead in the Democratic field,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the New York-based Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “There’s been a significant erosion in people’s willingness to say he deserves another chance.”
Can He Recover?
In an op-ed for CNN , Roxanne Jones argues that Weiner might still have a shot since he’s actually copping to the allegations and asking for forgiveness instead of denying everything like he did in 2011.
Jones also suggests that we’re being a little too hard on Anthony Weiner (an opinion shared by our very own Kim LaCapria ). As far as sex scandals go, trading lewd pictures and messages is pretty tame. What’s more, Jones points to recent data that shows sexting and trading lewd images and messages on social media – even among sanctified married individuals – has dramatically spiked in recent years.
There seems to be a Biblical gem about planks in eyes somewhere here.
Though the timing is definitely a problem for Weiner, some experts suspect that the public will be a bit mroe forgiving this time around.
“American attitudes are changing about sex because of evolving sexual norms and modernization,” said Alison Dagnes, associate professor of political science at Shippensburg University. “We are a forgiving nation and will forgive the sinner if he is truly apologetic. If a politician can make the case that sexual impropriety is a personal matter, the public will likely give him a pass.”
Hey look, we made it all the way through the article without a single Weiner pun. Shape up, mainstream media.
What do you think of Anthony Weiner’s latest sexting scandal? Do you think that New Yorkers will forgive him? Sound off!
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