Democrat Hochul threatens to LOSE New York governor race: Republican Lee Zeldin is gaining ground in the deep blue state – by razor-thin margins in the polls
- A new poll shows Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican nominee for governor of New York, is just two points behind incumbent Democratic governor Kathy Hochul
- A Trafalgar Group poll released Thursday showed Hochul, who took over from disgraced Governor Andrew Cuomo last August, came with 44.5 percent support
- Zeldin, a Republican congressman and an ally of former President Donald Trump, received 42.6 percent support in the poll
A new poll shows Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican nominee for governor of New York, is just two points behind incumbent Democratic governor Kathy Hochul in what should be a race in the deep blue state.
A Trafalgar Group poll released Thursday showed Hochul, who took over from disgraced Governor Andrew Cuomo last August, came with 44.5 percent support.
Zeldin, a Republican congressman and an ally of former President Donald Trump, received 42.6 percent support in the poll.
About 10 percent of voters remain undecided, while libertarian Larry Sharpe hovered at about 3 percent.
Incumbent Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul (left) is just two points ahead of her Republican challenger Lee Zeldin (right), who is currently a member of the US House of Representatives, in a new poll by the Trafalgar Group
Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin is within 2 points behind New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in the Empire State gubernatorial race, a new poll by the Trafalgar Group has found. Almost 10 percent of voters are still undecided
The poll covers likely voters in New York and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percent.
The survey was conducted from September 30th to October 3rd.
Hochul’s campaign has attempted to portray Zeldin as too Trumpy, while in the fall election, Zeldin has used a similar playbook to other Republicans, hyping high crime rates.
In September, however, Zeldin’s campaign admitted that one of the GOP candidate’s ads included footage of crimes being committed in California — not New York — and some of the New York footage predated Hochul’s tenure, according to NY1.
However, Hochul had served as Cuomo’s lieutenant governor before resigning over allegations of sexual harassment.
Another Zeldin advertisement portrayed Hochul as “even more corrupt than Cuomo” and pointed to claims that Hochul gave campaign donor contracts without a tender.
Early voting in the race begins on October 29th.
Despite the close vote, Zeldin’s shot at the governor’s mansion goes long.
Other recent polls showed Hochul with a comfortable double-digit lead.
And the last time New York elected a Republican governor was 20 years ago when the state elected Governor George Pataki for a third term. Since then, the state has had four Democratic governors, two of whom — Eliot Spitzer and Andrew Cuomo — have resigned amid the scandal.
FiveThirtyEight gave Zeldin less than a 1 percent chance of winning on Friday.