Pollster John Zogby recently conducted a poll for Unite NY, which shows Governor Kathy Hochul in the lead for re-election but not pulling away from her democratic and republican opponents. One takeaway from the poll is that former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino leads republicans in a head to head against Hochul.
The poll has Hochul with a 49%-35% lead over Astorino, (+14), a 50%-35% lead over Congressman Lee Zeldin, a 50%-34% lead over Harry Wilson, and a 52%-33% lead over Andrew Guiliani.
“Rob Astorino is the only Republican candidate for governor holding Kathy Hochul under the important 50% mark in the latest Zogby Poll. And unlike two other GOP candidates in the race, Rob hasn’t even started running TV ads yet,” writes Astorino campaign manager Phil Oliva, in an email to supporters.
“This poll is bad news for Hochul. A Marist poll eight years ago to the day had Rob down 40 points to Cuomo. Rob ended up closing that gap by nearly 27 points. He only needs to close a 14-point gap this time and the political winds are certainly with us. For further perspective, George Pataki was trailing Mario Cuomo by 12 points in a Zogby poll from Spring of 1994 and we all know how that election turned out.“
The poll was taken on March 3, days after the NY GOP convention, where Zeldin easily won the nomination with 85% of the vote. But Zogby’s poll shows that Zeldin didn’t get a boost from his nomination.
On the Democratic side, Hochul holds a 57%-16% lead over Congressman Tom Suozzi, and a 57%-14% lead over NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. Zogby warned, in a story for Forbes, that Suozzi and Williams need to be careful about “attacks on Hochul that could hurt the party’s efforts in November…A bloody internal fight is risky for the party and for the futures of Suozzi and Williams.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnzogby/2022/03/04/new-york-governor-hochul-in-good-shape-for-re-election-today-but-new-poll-suggests-shadows-lurking-around-the-corner/?sh=1e42371519d9
Zogby writes, “While the leads are significant and she (Hochul) hovers around the majority mark, the general election is not quite a done deal.
Unite NY, Uniteny.org, is an independent group that is exploring third party candidates and is working together to foster a more representative and functional government
