NY Gov. 2010: Democrat Paterson Now Behind ALL Hypothetical Challengers
Posted Nov 19, 2009 at 9:02 AM
Maurice Berger, Political Director, PollTrack
According to a new Siena Institute poll, incumbent Democratic NY Governor David Paterson has fallen behind all of his potential GOP challengers: "Less than one year before the 2010 elections and less than 10 months before the currently scheduled primary date, Governor David Paterson trails Attorney General Andrew Cuomo by nearly 60 points in a potential Democratic primary, trails former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani by more than 20 points, and for the first time trails former Congressman Rick Lazio by three points, according to a new Siena (College) Research Institute poll of registered voters. Of 26 potential candidates for statewide office next year that Siena tested – Republicans and Democrats, incumbents and challengers – only Cuomo and Senator Charles Schumer on the Democratic side and Giuliani and former Governor George Pataki on the Republican side have favorability ratings over 50 percent."
In the pending Democratic primary, Paterson fares even less well: “'While the Governor’s favorability rating saw slight improvement, no other measure of his electability increased noticeably. In a Democratic primary against Cuomo, Paterson fell even further behind, 75-16 percent, and in a general election matchup against Lazio, Paterson trails for the first time ever, albeit closely 42-39 percent. In the Democratic primary, Cuomo now has a two-to-one lead over Paterson among African American voters,'” said Siena pollster Steven Greenberg. 'While it’s true that the Governor’s new commercials had only been airing for less than a week while Siena was polling, it seems clear that he’s going to have to spend a lot of campaign funds very early to even have a chance of improving the measurements by which voters judge David Paterson.'”
