New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was polling at 58% against his Democratic challenger late last week according to a private Public Policy Polling survey, portions of which were shared with “Up with Steve Kornacki” hours before the polls were to close in today’s primary election. Law professor Zephyr Teachout received 26%.
No other surveys matching Teachout against Cuomo have been released in the campaign.
Sixteen percent said they were undecided while the third candidate on the ballot, Randy Credico, was not included in the poll. The margin of error is 4%.
While Teachout insists she’s running to win, there has been intense speculation over what share of the vote she’ll receive today, with her supporters talking of embarrassing – and perhaps weakening – the governor by demonstrating substantial discontent with him among Democrats. The 26% number is roughly in line with expectations set by New York political observers.
“The consensus estimate among Albany’s political professionals seems to be that Teachout will win around 20 percent of the vote, plus or minus five points,” Jimmy Vielkind recently wrote at Capital New York.
The survey of 513 likely voters, conducted by PPP on September 4th and 5th, was commissioned by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), which was the first national group to endorse Teachout for New York governor.
The PCCC has also invested in Teachout’s campaign through fundraising and mounting a get-out-the-vote operation.
Steve Kornacki
Steve Kornacki, author of "The Red and the Blue: 1990s and the Birth of Political Tribalism," is a national political correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC.