ALBANY, NY (WSKG) – A Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday finds that Governor Cuomo continues to lead his challengers by double digits.
Quinnipiac University polling analyst Mary Snow says the survey finds Cuomo has gained nine points since the last time potential voters were asked in May, and leads his Democratic primary challenger Cynthia Nixon 59 to 23 percent.
Snow says the biggest reason people gave for backing the two term governor for re election- experience on the job.
“A majority of people we spoke with said that they prefer a candidate for governor with experience in politics, over someone who is new to politics,” Snow said.
A spokeswoman for Nixon’s campaign says the poll surveyed registered voters, not likely voters for the primary, and she says past surveys of registered voters “clearly aren’t capturing the kind of Democrats who have been turning out to vote in primaries”. Spokeswoman Lauren Hitt cites Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s win agasint incumbent Queens Congressman Joe Crowley, who was ahead by 35 points in the days before the election.
The poll also asked about a hypothetical match up, if Cuomo were to win the Democratic primary and be on the ballot as a Democrat in November.
It found that Cuomo get 43% of the general election vote, with GOP candidate Marc Molinaro second at 23%. Nixon, if she remained on the Working Families Party ballot, would get 13%. Libertarian Party candidate Larry Sharpe has 3% of the vote, Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins has 2%, and former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, who is petitioning to run as in Independent, would get 1%.