Of likely voters in New York State, President Barack Obama and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand already seem to be majority favorites in the presidential and senate races, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.
President Barack Obama leads the poll with 62 percent of likely voters supporting him, while on 34 percent choosing Gov. Mitt Romney, his Republican challenger. Obama has a 20-point lead among men and a 35-point lead among women, the pol found.
"The only reason President Barack Obama or Gov. Mitt Romney will come to New York is to raise money. Unless something unforeseen happens, the poll numbers say it's an Obama blow-out," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Besides his usual close to unanimous vote in the Black community, Obama also carries the white vote in New York. Men like him a lot, women like him even more."
In the first poll for New York's U.S. Senate race, Democratic incumbent Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand leads Republican challenger Wendy Long with 64 percent of likely voters’ support, compared with Long’s 27 percent.
Of likely voters, 54 percent have a favorable opinion of Gillibrand, compared with 16 percent who don’t. For Long, 74 percent don't know enough about her to form an opinion, says the poll.
"The significant number in the Senate race is how many voters don't know enough to decide whether they like or dislike Wendy Long," Carroll said. "Hardly anyone knew Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand when she was first appointed but it looks like an easy six more years.
The economy is "extremely" important in their choice for president, 62 percent of voters say, followed by 54 percent who list health care as "extremely important" and 49 percent who cite Medicare.
From September 4 – 9, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,486 New York State likely voters with a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points. Live interviewers called land lines and cell phones.
