Four weeks of campaigning and one less candidate have tightened the race in the 18th Congressional District - which includes parts of Westchester and Dutchess counties, as well as all of Putnam County and Orange County. Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports on the results from the latest Siena Poll...
The new Siena College Poll shows that with less than three weeks until Election Day, Republican Representative Nan Hayworth leads Democratic challenger Sean Patrick Maloney by seven points, 49-42 percent, down from a 13-point lead one month ago, when there was a third party candidate who has since dropped out...
Maloney has now secured the Working Families Party line. Greenberg says Hayworth continues to lead in Orange County and in the Westchester/Putnam portion of the district, while Maloney has turned a large deficit in Dutchess County previously, into a small lead.
Pollster Steven Greenberg points out that 18th CD Voters' Views on Mitt Romney & President Barack Obama have barely moved, despite two debates.
According to Greenberg, both presidential candidates are viewed favorably by about half of the voters, with each seeing their favorable rating rise three points since the last Siena poll.
Getting back to the race for the seat in the 18th, the New York Times says "It now represents one of the Democrats’ best chances to capture a Republican-held seat in Congress."
Greenberg promises Siena will again poll the district; he notes that the 18th district is divided evenly three-ways between democrats, republicans and voters who registered as independents or with a third party.
Siena surveyed 615 likely voters from Oct. 16-17. The poll's margin of error is plus-or-minus 4.0 percentage points.
