| NY Governor 2006: Spitzer Holds Big Lead | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Survey of 500 Likely Voters August 23, 2005
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August 25, 2005--New York's Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has a huge lead over two potential Republican challengers in the race to become Governor of the Empire State. Spitzer leads William Weld 55% to 20%. Weld, a former Governor of Massachusetts, moved back to New York five years ago and recently announced his intention to enter the race. Spitzer leads Tom Golisano by nearly as big a margin, 52% to 23%. Golisano is a billionaire who has previously run as an Independent candidate. He is considering a bid for the GOP nomination. Spitzer is viewed favorably by 69% of New York voters and unfavorably by 19%. For Weld, the numbers are 35% favorable and 33% unfavorable. Golisano is viewed favorably by 39% and unfavorably by 32%. Related survey data shows Senator Hillary Clinton with a 24-point lead in her bid for re-election. [More Below] Some Democrats have questioned the depth of Spitzer's support. The survey found that 46% of Democrats believe that Spitzer is the party's best candidate. Twenty-two percent (22%) disagree. Spitzer also does well among Republicans. He trails Weld by just four points among GOP voters and is behind Golisano by six. The newest entrant into the race--Weld-- has his work cut out for him within his own party. He is viewed favorably by just 43% of Republicans in the state. Twenty-six percent (26%) of the GOP faithful have an unfavorable opinion of Weld while 31% are not sure. While just 32% of voters view Weld as a carpetbagger, there is some concern about the fact that he has already served as Governor of Massachusetts. Forty-six percent (46%) of all voters say this makes them less likely to vote for Weld. That view is shared by 41% of Republicans, 47% of Democrats, and 49% of those not affiliated with either major party. Just 22% of voters say that Weld's service as Massachusetts Governor makes them more likely to vote for him. The margin of sampling error for the full survey sample is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. Rasmussen Reports was the nation's most accurate polling firm during the Presidential election and the only one to project both Bush and Kerry's vote total within half a percentage point of the actual outcome. During Election 2004, RasmussenReports.com was also the top-ranked public opinion research site on the web. We had twice as many visitors as our nearest competitor and nearly as many as all competitors combined. Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, has been an independent pollster for more than a decade. To keep up with our latest releases, be sure to visit the Rasmussen Reports Home Page.
The telephone survey of 500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports August 23, 2005. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence (see Methodology) |
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