Cuomo
LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - New York gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo has extended his lead over GOP rival Carl Paladino, according to the newest poll results.
Cuomo, the state's attorney general, is ahead of Paladino 63 percent to 26 percent among likely voters, a Siena Research Institute survey showed.
A survey by the research institute published Oct. 5 had Cuomo ahead by 24 points.
"With less than two weeks until Election Day, it's going to take more than a minor miracle by the Paladino campaign to turn the gubernatorial race around," Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said in a statement.
"Cuomo leads by 59 points in New York City, 25 points in the downstate suburbs and 24 points upstate. He leads by 22 points among men and 50 points among women. He leads by better than two-to-one among independent voters, and even has the support of 30 percent of Republicans, while Paladino has the support of just 9 percent of Democrats and 26 percent of independents."
The poll results, released Wednesday, also show 69 percent of voters have an "unfavorable view" of Paladino, calling him "a loose cannon" and saying he lacks "the temperament" to be governor.
"While Cuomo continues to enjoy a very strong favorability rating among New York voters, Paladino's favorability rating continues to erode. Three times as many New York voters view Paladino unfavorably as view him favorably. To say the least, that's a difficult position for a candidate for the state's top office to find himself in," Greenberg said.
In recent weeks, the Buffalo real estate developer has accused his Democratic opponent of adultery, cursed out a newspaper editor and has had to apologize for comments about homosexuals.
Greenberg said voters are much more in agreement that Cuomo's experience in government is more of what New York needs right now than Paladino's business experience.
Also, in the race for the Attorney General's Office, state Sen. Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat, has a 44-37 lead over Republican District Attorney Dan Donovan, according to Wednesday's poll results.
"The race for Attorney General to succeed Cuomo is shaping up as a barn burner and clearly the closest of the statewide races," Greenberg said.
He said each candidate has virtually the same number of people who have a favorable view of them as have an unfavorable view.
"The difference is that while Schneiderman is unknown to about half of the likely voters, Donovan remains unknown to about two-thirds of voters," he said.
The Siena institute, based in Loudonville, New York, conducted a telephone survey Oct. 14-18 of 647 likely voters, from a sample of 1,002 registered voters less than three weeks before the Nov. 2 election. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by e-mail at jessica@legalnewsline.com.