Poll: Romney would win New York primary

ALBANY -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney holds a commanding lead over former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum among New Yorkers likely to vote in the state's Republican primary, according to a poll released Thursday.

A Quinnipiac University poll found that 54 percent of likely primary voters in the April 24 contest favored Romney over Santorum, who got 21 percent.

"Assuming the numbers hold until April 24, Gov. Mitt Romney sweeps the statewide Republican vote," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. New York has 95 delegates.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul trailed with 9 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

Romney has 658 delegates compared with Santorum's 281, Gingrich's 135 and Paul's 51, according to The Associated Press. Candidates need 1,144 at the convention to secure the party nomination.

Still, President Barack Obama would trounce Romney in New York by a margin of 56 percent to 33 percent if the election were held today, the poll found.

Also in the poll, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand scored her highest approval rating to date. The Democratic senator's approval rating shot up 13 percentage points to 60 percent since a Quinnipiac poll February, while 21 percent disapprove of her and 19 percent don't know.

The majority of Republican voters are undecided about their pick to run against her, according to Quinnipiac. Rep. Robert Turner (R-Rockaway Point) leads among 19 percent of GOP voters, followed by businesswoman Wendy Long with 11 percent and Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos with 7 percent. Gillibrand also enjoys a 2-1 margin against any of those potential opponents, the poll found.

The poll surveyed 1,597 voters from March 28 to April 2 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. Also included were 372 likely Republican primary voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 5.1 percentage points.