Cuomo
NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) - New York gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo leads his Republican opponent, Carl Paladino, by 18 points, according to the results of a new poll released this week.
According to a Quinnipiac University Polling Institute survey released Thursday, the popular Democrat, Cuomo, is ahead of the Buffalo real estate developer 55 percent to 37 percent among likely voters.
In previous poll results, released by the institute Sept. 22, the state's current Attorney General just had a 49 to 43 percent lead over Paladino.
According to the new survey, Paladino leads Cuomo among so-called "angry voters" 50 to 41 percent.
Maurice Carroll, the polling institute's director, said, "Lots of New Yorkers are fed up with state government. Those who say they are angry go for Carl Paladino -- but not by all that much. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo gets the votes of 41 percent of the angry people."
Carroll points to Paladino's recent flap with a New York Post editor as a possible contributing factor.
"Since Quinnipiac University's last poll two weeks ago, it's been a looney-tunes time for Paladino in the news media -- one time in a face-to-face fight with a reporter -- and it shows," he said.
Carroll added, "Cuomo moves into a double-digit lead. After the dust settled from Paladino's big primary win, the big switch was in the independent vote -- a small edge for Paladino two weeks ago turns into a small edge for Cuomo this time."
According to the Quinnipiac poll, voters also say, 54 to 30 percent, that Paladino doesn't have the right personality to be governor.
"Paladino's 'angry man' style gets a lot of attention, but he comes up negative on the personality test," Carroll said. "Less than a third of New Yorkers think he's right for the governor's job. Two-thirds say Cuomo is 'Mr. Personality.'"
From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by e-mail at jessica@legalnewsline.com.