Cuomo Trounces Nixon In Poll Done Before Mailer Gaffe

NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo remained miles ahead of Cynthia Nixon in a new poll gauging the Democratic primary race for governor. But the survey was conducted before a mailer accusing Nixon of being weak against anti-Semitism drew widespread condemnation.

Some 63 percent of likely primary voters backed Cuomo in the Siena College poll published Monday, while just 22 percent picked Nixon ahead of Thursday's election. The last Siena poll in July showed Cuomo ahead 60-29.

The results showed the incumbent second-term governor widening his lead over the insurgent left-wing activist and onetime "Sex and the City" star. He dominated all demographic groups by at least 20 points; even 56 percent of self-described liberals sided with Cuomo, whom Nixon has criticized as too friendly to corporate interests.

"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 — even if an increase in turnout among those groups occurs," Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said in a statement.

But Nixon's campaign noted that the survey of 509 Democrats was conducted from Sept. 4 to 7 — just before an especially rough weekend rattled Cuomo.

The governor drew fire on Sunday for a state Democratic Party mailer accusing Nixon — who attends a synogogue and is raising her children Jewish — of being "silent on the rise of anti-Semitism." It also incorrectly said she supports the so-called Boycott, Divestment, Sanction movement to pressure Israel over how it treats Palestinians.

Cuomo reportedly denied any knowledge of the mailer after it surfaced on Saturday. Party Executive Director Geoffrey Berman called the piece "wrong and inappropriate" and pledged to send a mailing on the Nixon campaign's behalf.

But that didn't stop Nixon and her allies from condemning it. City Comptroller Scott Stringer even called for Berman's resignation.

"Smearing @CynthiaNixon ... as soft on anti-Semitism & lying about her position on Israel in order to fearmonger and shill for votes is a shameful dead-end for our party," City Councilman Brad Lander, a Brooklyn Democrat who has endorsed Nixon, wrote on Twitter.

Cuomo also had to grapple with a delayed opening for the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge over the Hudson River amid concerns about the old Tappan Zee Bridge, which is still being dismantled.

The governor held a grand-opening ceremony for the new bridge's eastbound span on Friday, where he appeared alongside Hillary Clinton and drove a car once owned by Franklin D. Roosevelt. The first span of the bridge opened last year.

But the shift in traffic onto the span was canceled because of worries that part of the old bridge could fall and possibly crash into the new one, officials said. The traffic switch is now scheduled for Tuesday evening, the company overseeing the project said.

Cuomo similarly distanced himself from the problem by noting that the state doesn't own the old bridge. "It is not our bridge. We are not responsible for it," he said Sunday.

It's uncertain whether the recent imbroglios will be enough to help Nixon overcome her huge polling deficit. Her campaign noted that polls have gotten other recent races wrong, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's stunning defeat of Rep. Joe Crowley in New York's 14th Congressional District.

"They are missing the new electorate — people of all ages and races who have traditionally sat out the primaries, but are now energized to fight for fundamental change after the establishment Democratic party failed to overtake Donald Trump," Nixon campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt said in a statement.

(Lead image: Gov. Andrew Cuomo marches in the West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn on Sept. 3, 2018. Photo by Yana Paskova/Getty Images)