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Siena Poll shows Cuomo leading Nixon among likely Democratic primary voters

Credit OFFICE OF NY GOV. CUOMO

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is currently leading Cynthia Nixon for the governor nomination 2-to-1 in polls among likely Democratic primary voters in New York.

That’s according to a recent Siena Poll with just about six weeks until Primary Day.

Siena College pollster Steve Greenberg says there is no question Cuomo holds a commanding lead across the state.

"He leads by 21 points in NYC, he leads by 58 points in the downstate suburbs. But he even leads by 21 points upstate, 54 to 33."

Nixon does best with younger voters, Greenberg says, where Cuomo still holds a lead but not as large. But the question is whether those voters will come out for a primary.

Greenberg says Nixon has a lock on voters who do not like Cuomo, but needs to expand her base beyond that.

Nixon’s campaign responded to the poll Tuesday morning, saying that Nixon had actually gained 10 points since the first Siena poll in March, while Cuomo had lost six; and that young voters are indeed coming out to primary elections.

Among other races, New York City Public Advocate Leticia James has the support of 25 percent of voters for the Democratic nomination for attorney general.

She’s ahead of Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who holds 16 percent, and Zephyr Teachout with 13 percent.

But half of likely Democrats say they are undecided in the race for lieutenant governor. Of those who had made a choice, current Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul leads New York City Councilman Jumaane Williams, 30 percent to 21 percent.

Greenberg says it’s not a surprise that the race is wide open at this point.

"Hochul is unknown to 68 percent, more than two-thirds of likely Democratic primary voters. But Williams is unknown to 72 percent. So you have two candidates, largely unknown to the electorate, running for an office that voters don’t get to vote for in the general election but do in a primary."

Greenberg says that generally, Democrats are optimistic about the direction of the state.

Copyright 2018 WXXI News

Caitlin Whyte
Caitlin joins WXXI after working down the street at Stephens Media Group where, she co hosted a children's radio show, "Saturday Morning CarTunes" on WARM 101.3 and worked as a traffic reporter for various affiliates.