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US-VOTE-POLITICS-NEWYORK,POLL
Cynthia Nixon slumps further in NY governor poll
NEW YORK, Sept 10, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Cynthia Nixon, the “Sex and the City”
actress campaigning to become New York’s first woman governor, has slumped
further behind the Democratic incumbent just days before the primary, a new
poll revealed Monday.
Two-term governor Andrew Cuomo, 60, leads Nixon 63-22 percent, up from 60-
29 percent in late July, according to the latest Siena College poll of likely
Democratic primary voters.
His favorability rating is 68-24 percent, up from 67-29 in July, while
Nixon’s has slipped from 43-30 to 41-33 percent.
Democrats go to the polls Thursday in New York’s gubernatorial primary.
Nixon is campaigning hard to Cuomo’s left, energized by a string of other
insurgent wins in Democratic primaries elsewhere in the United States.
Many of those victories went undetected by polling, but Siena College
pollster Steven Greenberg insisted Monday that Cuomo “seems poised to
overwhelm Nixon.”
He leads in every demographic group and in every region of the state,
including among voters under 35 years old, self-described liberals and has a
48-point lead among women, according to the Siena poll.
“While the Nixon campaign has talked about increased turnout among new,
young and more progressive voters, it doesn’t appear that that will help
her,” said Greenberg.
Nixon’s campaign hit back, saying that US polls had time and again missed
a “new electorate” who have traditionally sat out the primaries but who are
now energized by opposition to Donald Trump’s presidency.
“Andrew Cuomo knows this race is tighter than this poll suggests, or he
wouldn’t be spending half a million dollars a day against us,” said campaign
spokeswoman Lauren Hitt.
“Given how much money he’s spent, it’s hardly shocking that Cuomo would
have expanded his lead with the establishment voters these polls capture.”
A New York State Democratic Party mailer over the weekend that implied
Nixon was anti-Semitic, without basis, sparked a furious backlash and forced
an apology, with Cuomo denying that he had anything knowledge of it.
Nixon, who has Jewish children and went to synagogue to celebrate the
Jewish New Year on Sunday, has accused Cuomo of orchestrating a smear
campaign.
BSS/AFP/BZC/2100HRS