New poll: Kenney, Williams & Abraham 'locked in a tight 3-way race' for mayor

A new poll from The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) shows former City Councilman Jim Kenney holding a slim lead over state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams and former District Attorney Lynne Abraham in the Democratic primary election for mayor.

The trio are "still locked in a tight three-way race," according to AFSCME analysis of the poll, done by Gerstein Bocian Agne Strategies in Washington D.C.  Kenney is at 26 percent, Williams is at 25 percent and Abraham is at 22 percent.

Eighteen percent of 587 like Democratic voters in the poll, conducted from April 9 to April 15, said they were undecided about which candidate to support in the May 19 primary.

AFSCME didn't even bother to mention the three other Democrats in the race in its analysis.  Those three trail badly in the poll.

Former state Sen. T. Milton Street Sr. had 4 percent, former Common Pleas Judge Nelson Diaz had 3 percent and former PGW executive Doug Oliver had 2 percent.

The pollsters said Abraham still enjoys strong name recognition while Kenney and Williams "clearly have more room to grow, as we would expect them to do as these two candidates and their allies continue to dominate the airwaves in the final month" of the primary.

The race of candidates and voters played an "expected...powerful role," according to the pollsters.  Williams holds a lead at 39 percent among black voters, to Kenney's 13 percent and Abraham's 17 percent.  Kenney holds a lead at 43 percent among white voters, to Abraham's 30 percent and Williams' 9 percent.

AFSCME's three district councils in Philadelphia have endorsed Kenney for mayor.

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