It’s been a fun and sometimes wild ride in the New York gubernatorial Democratic primary this spring. Upstart Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon got a lot of people excited with her challenge to the state’s scandal-prone governor, Andrew Cuomo. That was especially true in the media, where liberal analysts were falling all over themselves to find signs of life in her campaign. But as the heat of summer approaches, a new Siena poll shows that not only is Nixon failing to chip away at Cuomo’s massive lead, she’s actually losing ground. I was first alerted to the latest set of numbers last night on Twitter by Steve Kornacki.
NY Gov Dem primary poll (Siena)
Andrew Cuomo 61%
Cynthia Nixon 26%By race:
White: Cuomo 57-30%
Latino: Cuomo 69-23%
Black: Cuomo 74-17%https://t.co/DSFeDMEV0W— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) June 13, 2018
Ouch. That’s pretty brutal. The New York Post had more of the details this morning.
Two-term incumbent Andrew Cuomo continues to hold a giant lead over rival Cynthia Nixon as the Democratic primary for governor heads into the summer months, according to a poll released Wednesday.
Cuomo is demolishing the “Sex and the City” actress 61 to 26 percent in the Sept. 13 race, the Siena College survey found.
The figures show Nixon — who launched her campaign in March — hasn’t gained any ground in the last two months. In fact,she lost a few steps.
In April, the same poll put Cuomo’s lead at 58 to 27 percent.
The full numbers are available here but no matter how you slice the electorate, there’s really no good news here for Nixon. Cuomo is beating her by forty points in the Five Boroughs and a whopping 63 points in the suburbs. As I predicted when she first entered the race, Nixon is doing a little bit better upstate where more conservative voters really don’t like Cuomo, but she’s still losing by almost ten points there. She’ even losing among women 63-27.
The big mystery is… why? Cuomo is about as old-school establishment Democrat as they come at a time when the Berniecrats are supposed to be surging. Some of his closest aides and big-time donors are either in jail, on trial or under federal investigation. He’s about as lovable and cuddly as a cactus.
Nixon, on the other hand, looks to have the perfect 2018 resume for progressives. She’s gay. She’s a woman. She’s a darling of the Hollywood crowd. And did I mention she’s gay? What’s not to love, Democrats? How can you be shutting her out this badly, aside from the fact that she’s an actress with absolutely zero qualifications for the job asking to run one of the largest economies in the nation?
Still, as I said, it’s been amusing to watch Cuomo dancing around trying to make sure she couldn’t outflank him too badly on his left. But Nixon simply isn’t moving the needle. This is a dead campaign walking at this point.
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