Cuomo's Lead Shrinks In NY Governor's Race, Poll Shows

NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo lost ground in the final stretch of his re-election campaign as voters' approval of him sunk to a new low, a new Siena College poll shows. Some 49 percent of likely voters said they'd back the Democratic governor in Tuesday's gubernatorial election, while 36 percent sided with his Republican challenger, Marc Molinaro.

The poll published Sunday showed Cuomo a much narrower lead than he had about a month ago. An Oct. 1 Siena poll had him ahead by 22 percentage points.

Cuomo is still favored to win a third term Tuesday as Democrats look to take control of the state Senate from Republicans and flip some contested congressional seats. The Democratic candidates for attorney general, comptroller and U.S. Senate also hold large leads, the poll shows.

"Voters are poised to give Cuomo a third-term. The question appears to be by what margin?" Siena College pollster Steve Greenberg said in a news release. "Will Democrats and New York City voters turnout in bigger numbers than they have in recent midterms? If so, Cuomo has the chance to run up the score."

But more New Yorkers said they held a negative opinion of Cuomo for the first time in his tenure, the poll shows. Some 49 percent of likely voters said they had an unfavorable view of the governor while 45 percent said they had a favorable view — the lowest rate since February 2011, according to Siena.

The poll was conducted after Cuomo and Molinaro traded blows in a testy and at times strange televised debate on Oct. 23. Despite his face-off with the governor in front of a broad audience, 46 percent of the electorate either didn't know Molinaro or had no opinion of him, the poll shows.

The only political figure in the poll whom New Yorkers said they liked less than Cuomo was President Donald Trump, to whom the governor has tried to link Molinaro. Some 58 percent of likely voters said they had an unfavorable view of the Republican president, according to the poll.

The new numbers were promising in the eyes of Molinaro's campaign, which compared them to polling from the 1994 election in which the Republican George Pataki unseated Cuomo's father, Mario Cuomo.

"New Yorkers have had it with the insanely high taxes, record corruption, and massive government waste that have defined the Cuomo Administration," Molinaro campaign spokeswoman Katherine Delgado said in a statement.

But a Cuomo campaign spokeswoman, Abbey Collins, dismissed the comparison between Molinaro and Pataki.

"Molinaro is an ultra-conservative anti-choice, anti-immigrant, NRA A-rated Trump mini-me. Pataki was pro-choice, pro-assault weapons ban and outraised Mario Cuomo in a Republican wave year," Collins said in a statement. "Otherwise, exactly the same."

The poll showed Republicans lagging in the other three statewide contests. Public Advocate Letitia James, a Democrat, leads Republican attorney Keith Wofford by 12 points in the attorney general's race, while Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is 23 points ahead of her GOP challenger, Chele Farley, in her re-election bid.

The biggest gap was seen in the state comptroller's race — the Democratic incumbent, Thomas DiNapoli, was 37 points ahead of his challenger, Jonathan Trichter.

Siena College polled 641 likely general election voters by telephone from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1. The poll had a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.

(Lead image: Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Marc Molinaro will face off in the. Nov. 6 gubernatorial election. AP Photos/Bebeto Matthews, left, and Julio Cortez, Files)