Question:

Poll Demographics
If the 2010 election for United States Senator were being held today and the candidates were Kirsten Gillibrand the Democrat and Bruce Blakeman the Republican, for whom would you vote?


Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom

Gillibrand 48% 16% 78% 37% 46% 50%
Blakeman 27 63 6 28 31 23
SMONE ELSE(VOL) 2 1 - 5 3 1
WLDN'T VOTE(VOL) 2 2 1 2 2 2
DK/NA 21 18 15 29 18 24

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July 28, 2010 - Politics Thwarts Att'y General In Fighting Corruption, New York State Voters Tell Quinnipiac University Poll; Dems Have No Clue Of Attorney General Candidates


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Only 30 percent of New York State voters say giving the next Attorney General more power to fight corruption in state government would be effective, while 54 percent say political considerations would prevent the Attorney General from using this power to clean up Albany, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.


In fact, 51 percent of New York State voters say the Attorney General already has the right amount of power to fight Albany corruption, while 32 percent say more power is needed, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.


Incumbent Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has been "about right" fighting corruption, 49 percent of voters say, while 38 percent say he has not been aggressive enough. Independent voters split 43 - 43 percent on whether Cuomo has been too aggressive or about right fighting corruption.


Cuomo still has a 69 - 17 percent approval rating and tops either Republican contender more than 2 - 1 in the race for Governor:
•Beating Rick Lazio 56 - 26 percent;
•Topping Carl Paladino 55 - 25 percent.

Lazio leads Paladino in a Republican primary 39 - 23 percent, with 33 percent undecided.


"It's all coming up roses for Cuomo. While he gets OK grades for battling corruption, his overall job approval rating is still stratospheric. And he continues to trounce either of the Republican wannabes, Rick Lazio or Carl Paladino," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.


New York State government is dysfunctional, voters say 75 - 20 percent, and voters say 53 - 35 percent their own state senator should be swept out of office in a general house-cleaning. By a similar 49 - 33 percent margin, voters say their State Assembly member should go, also.


New York State voters approve 48 - 26 percent of the job U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is doing, inching her up to her highest approval rating ever.


Sen. Gillibrand leads either of her two Republican challengers:
•48 - 27 percent over Bruce Blakeman;
•49 - 24 percent over David Malpass.

In a Republican primary, Blakeman tops Malpass 19 - 12 percent, but 62 percent are undecided.


The Democratic primary for Attorney General is even more uncertain: When asked if they knew who they would vote for, with no names offered, 81 percent of Democrats said, "no." Only three percent could name any of the five candidates while 9 percent offered names of people whose names will not appear on the September 14 Democratic primary ballot.


When Democrats are offered the names of the five contenders for Attorney General, 11 percent pick Kathleen Rice, with no one else topping 5 percent and 73 percent undecided.


"Suppose they gave a primary and nobody came. Believe it or not, the polls will be open September 14, but most New Yorkers - Democrats and Republicans alike - don't seem to be following the primary races for Governor, Attorney General or U.S. Senator," Carroll said.


"On the Republican side, Rick Lazio leads Carl Paladino but one-third of voters don't know who they'll pick for governor. In the Republican Senate race, almost two-thirds are undecided," Carroll said.


"On the Democratic side, four out of five voters can't name a choice for Attorney General. When Quinnipiac University pollsters give them the five candidates' names, only Kathleen Rice edges into double digits - barely."


From July 20 - 26, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,165 New York State registered voters, with a margin of error of +/- 2.9 percentage points. The survey includes 380 Republicans with a margin of error of +/- 5 percentage points and 441 Democrats with a margin of error of +/- 4.7 percentage points.


The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public opinion surveys in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio and nationwide as a public service and for research. For more data or RSS feed- http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, call (203) 582-5201, or follow us on Twitter.



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