McCall and Golisano moving up

The latest Quinnipiac poll on the NY governor's race shows Pataki's competition chipping away at this lead. The university's previous poll, July 2, had the following results:

Pataki 53
McCall 26
Golisano 7

The last poll on this race, from two weeks ago showed these results:

Pataki 48
McCall 32
Golisano 11

Now, the most recent Q-poll has encouraging news for McCall:

Pataki 46
McCall 35
Golisano 13

And note that Pataki has yet to face the coming ad barrages from both McCall and Golisano (mostly Golisano). However, the press release makes this curious comment:

In a theoretical matchup of just Pataki and McCall, without Golisano, Pataki wins 52 – 36 percent, showing Golisano is drawing support equally from both candidates.

“The pundits said Golisano would hurt Pataki, but both Pataki and McCall lose about the same when the Rochester billionaire is in the mix,” Carroll said.

Excuse me? Without Golisano, Pataki gains six points, while McCall gains one. The rest of Golisano voters apparently move into the "undecided" column. But, if they would consider voting for the right-wing Golisano in the first place, its doubtful they would break McCall's way.

In any case, this race is still Pataki's to lose, he has strong support among independents (which in NY probably trend Democratic) and his 62 percent favorability ratings are somewhat daunting. The big question, ultimately, will be whether vicious Golisano attack on Pataki's right flank can strip enough votes to hand McCall the election. In that regard, the latest numbers are encouraging.

(Another thanks to Political Wire.)

Posted September 25, 2002 08:49 AM | Comments (1)