Poll: Cuomo expands lead over Nixon in New York Dem primary

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has significantly widened his lead over left-wing challenger Cynthia Nixon in the New York Democratic gubernatorial primary, according to a new Quinnipiac poll. 

The poll has Cuomo leading by 59 percent to 23 percent for Nixon.

In a Qunnipiac poll from May, Cuomo led Nixon 50-28 percent.

Cuomo comes out ahead of Nixon in all gender, education, age, racial and regional groups, according to the new poll. 

“New Yorkers say 59-30 percent they want a gubernatorial candidate with experience in politics over someone new to it,” Quinnipac University polling analyst Mary Snow said. “Democrats, non-white voters and women, in particular, lead the charge in that preference.” 

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The poll also found that Cuomo would beat Republican opponent Marc Molinaro, topping him by 57-31 percent. 

“A significant percentage of voters say they haven’t heard enough about Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s two main rivals, Duchess County Executive Marc Molinaro and Cynthia Nixon, to give them a thumbs up or down on what they think of them,” Snow said. “That is also helping Gov. Cuomo.” 

Nixon, a longtime activist and former star of hit TV show “Sex and the City,” has attracted national attention for her progressive positions. Last month, she came out in support of abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and aligned herself with progressive star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the 28-year-old democratic socialist who beat incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) in an upset win. 

Nixon’s campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt invoked Ocasio-Cortez’s election in response to the poll. 

“The poll surveyed registered voters, a poor reflection of the electorate likely to vote on Thursday, September 13th,” Hitt told ABC. “Joe Crowley’s poll had him up by 35 points. He lost by 15.”  

Cuomo has largely ignored Nixon during his campaign, instead hitting President Trump in ads.

Overall, voters who responded to the poll gave Cuomo a 49-38 percent favorability rating while Nixon got 27-30 percent favorability, with 40 percent of those polled saying they hadn’t heard enough about her to form an opinion.

The Quinnipiac poll surveyed 934 voters from July 12-16, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.