Poll: Cuomo's lead over Paladino grows

ALBANY - In the governor's race, what a difference two weeks can make.

The Quinnipiac University Polling Institute said Thursday that Democrat Andrew Cuomo is ahead of Republican Carl Paladino by 18 percentage points in its latest survey of likely voters. On Sept. 22, the institute found Cuomo leading by only 6 points in the wake of Paladino's victory over former Rep. Rick Lazio of Brightwaters in the Sept. 14 GOP primary.

The earlier poll surprised many and led Democrats to call on Cuomo to make more campaign appearances and push back against Paladino's strident criticism.

Cuomo, the state attorney general, has done so. And Paladino has been the subject of media attention, not all of it positive.

The latest poll shows Cuomo beating Paladino, a Buffalo businessman, 55 percent to 37 percent among people expecting to cast ballots Nov. 2. Six percent were undecided and 2 percent plan to vote for someone else.

"Paladino's 'angry man' style gets a lot of attention, but he comes up negative on the personality test," said pollster Maurice Carroll. "Less than a third of New Yorkers think he's right for the governor's job."

Voters, by a 54-30 margin, said Paladino lacks the temperament to be the state's chief executive. The number of people who view Paladino unfavorably is 49 percent, up from 31 percent two weeks ago.

Paladino campaign manager Michael Caputo downplayed the results, saying public polls from Quinnipiac and elsewhere "were off by more than 20 points" from the primary outcome.

Caputo added that the campaign's internal polls show the general election race "much closer but we still have a heavy lift closing the gap whether it's 8 or 18" points.

Cuomo, through a spokesman, declined to comment.

The poll of 1,141 likely voters, conducted Oct. 1-5, has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 points.