New Poll Shows Danger for Paterson and Gillibrand

A new Siena poll out today shows some bad numbers for both Gov. Paterson and Senator Gillibrand.

Fifty-one percent of voters said Gillibrand's appointment was OK with them, and upstaters are particularly pleased (63-19) by her pick, but name recognition continues to be her biggest problem. The new senator's approval rating is 30-13, with most people saying they don't know enough about her yet to have an opinion one way or the other. At the moment, only 21 percent of voters say they're prepared to vote for Gillibrand in 2010, while 29 percent would prefer the unspecified "someone else." She does better with Republicans (24-38) than Democrats (20-28), with 63 percent of members of her own party saying they'd like to see someone primary her next fall. In hypothetical head-to-head match-ups with the two most frequently mentioned GOP contenders for her seat - Rep. Pete King and Rudy Giuliani (although he's more expected to run against Paterson) - Gillibrand has a wide lead over the congressman (46-23), but is only slightly ahead of the former mayor (44-42). Republicans would vastly prefer to see Giuliani, not King, take on the new junior senator (69-16). As for Paterson, his favorability rating is at 54-30 - down from 60-23 less than a week ago and 63-22 last month. It's the first time Paterson has dropped below 55 percent since last May. On his handling of Clinton's seat, 33 percent say he did a "fair" job, while 29 percent graded his performance as "poor." In the downstate suburbs, a whopping 73 percent of poll respondent gave Paterson a negative rating on this question.

Both Paterson and Gillibrand need to get back to the core of the Democratic party. NY can not be won by pandering to the extreme right the way Senator Gillibrand has done. Both politicians need to remember the values that got and will continue to get them elected in NY. Otherwise they might be looking for a new job and New Yorkers might be looking a resurgence of the Republican party.