Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin has expanded his lead over Democrat Anna Throne-Holst to a now 21-point lead, 57-36 percent, according to a new Newsday/Siena College poll of likely 1st C.D. voters.
Zeldin has the support of 90 percent of Republicans, up six points from last month, while Throne-Holst’s lead among Democrats fell from 62 points to 51 points, according to the poll. Zeldin now has the support of 22 percent of Democrats, and leads by 18 points with independents, largely unchanged from 17 points last month.
“Compounding Throne-Holst’s problems is that while she remains largely unknown to almost one-third of voters, the percentage of voters viewing her unfavorably increased from 25 to 38 percent, and those viewing her favorably inched down to 31 percent. At the same time, Zeldin’s favorability rating improved from 49-33 percent last month to 55-32 percent,” said Steven Greenberg of Siena Research.
“While Throne-Holst’s campaign commercials have been seen by 60 percent of voters, compared to Zeldin’s 70 percent, by a decisive 41-16 percent margin, voters say Throne-Holst, not Zeldin, is running the more negative campaign.
“Heading into the closing days of the campaign, Zeldin is in a commanding position and Throne-Holst is facing an ever-steepening uphill climb,” the researcher said.
“Zeldin has a strong favorability rating while Throne-Holst is viewed unfavorably by a plurality of voters. Zeldin has three-times greater support from Democrats than Throne-Holst enjoys with Republicans… A large plurality of voters thinks Throne-Holst, not Zeldin, is waging the more negative campaign. And by a 15-point margin, voters want Republicans to maintain control of the House,” Greenberg said. “Every indicator points to Zeldin.”
This Newsday/Siena College 1st C.D. survey was conducted October 27-31, 2016 by telephone calls in English to 607 likely 1st C.D. voters, according to a press release about the poll. It has a margin of error of +/- 4.0 percentage points.
The Siena College Research Institute, directed by Donald Levy, Ph.D., conducts political, economic, social and cultural research primarily in NYS. SRI, an independent, non-partisan research institute, subscribes to the American Association of Public Opinion Research Code of Professional Ethics and Practices.
Survey cross-tabulations and frequencies can be found at: www.Siena.edu/SRI/SNY.
