According to a poll released yesterday by 7 News-Siena College, Republican Elise Stefanik appears poised to take the NY-21 House of Representatives seat. This seat is currently held by Democrat Bill Owens.
The news on the Governor's race may spell trouble for Andrew Cuomo's national hopes; more below the fold.
This is the first poll that I have seen, and I must say that I am surprised at the magnitude of her lead. According to the article linked to above,
With one week to go before election day, Republican Elise Stefanik holds a commanding 18 point lead over Democrat Aaron Woolf in the race for the north country's seat in Congress.
Stefanik has 50 percent in the 7 News-Siena College poll; Woolf has 32 percent and Green Party candidate Matt Funiciello has 11 percent.
Woolf hasn't really caught on, as evidenced by the strong support for Matt Funiciello. He does better in the eastern part of the district - he and Stefanik are basically tied over here, even with Funiciello getting 11%.
Another tidbit from the poll is the lack of support for our friend Andrew Cuomo:
In the race for Governor - in which Governor Cuomo is an overwhelming favorite statewide - Cuomo leads Republican Rob Astorino, but the race is close in the 21st: Cuomo with 43 percent, Astorino, 39 percent, and Green candidate Howie Hawkins with 10 percent.
Cuomo has alienated many up here with the
Safe Act gun control legislation. Of course, those on the left side of the political spectrum don't seem terribly enthusiastic about Mr. Cuomo either. Howie Hawkins only pulled 0.5-1% in the 2010 gov's race in these counties, so there is leakage that way as well.
Presumably, Gov. Cuomo doesn't care about NY-21, as he will win handily downstate, but it may spell trouble for him if he wants to run for national office.