Andrew Cuomo favored over Caroline Kennedy for Senate
Caroline Kennedy was the early favorite, but a poll finds that New York voters now want Atty. Gen. Cuomo to take over Hillary Clinton's seat.
New York Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo, the son of a former governor, is preferred by New Yorkers over Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of a former president, to be the next U.S. senator from the state, according to a poll released this morning.
Cuomo leads Kennedy 31% to 24%, according to the Quinnipiac University poll. The pair are among at least five candidates seeking appointment to the seat being vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton, nominated to become U.S. secretary of State.
Kennedy, who has never run for elective office but is known for her work with the New York City school system, had been favored early on. But her favorability rating has fallen from 46% in a Dec. 23 poll to 39% in the current one.
"Caroline Kennedy's stumbling start in her first interviews may have cost her the lead," Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a statement posted on the school's website. "It's close, but Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo is No. 1 among voters in the race for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat."
Gov. David Paterson will pick the next senator, who will serve two years once Clinton formally resigns. Clinton's confirmation hearing was Tuesday; her appointment is expected to be voted on by the full Senate by next week.
The Senate choice has put Paterson in a bind. Kennedy represents a new face who can attract money and media attention, especially when she campaigns in 2010, the same year that Paterson is expected to run. He is filling out the term of Eliot Spitzer, who was forced to resign as governor because of a prostitution scandal.
According to the poll, respondents by a margin of 38% to 33% said that they believed Paterson would appoint Kennedy. That echoes recent statements by top state Democrats.
But Cuomo has been a fixture in New York Democratic politics since he helped engineer his father's unexpected victory as governor. He has also been highly visible as attorney general, investigating questionable student loans and abuse of the state police by Spitzer, among other issues.
According to the poll, he leads Kennedy 31% to 20% among upstate voters and 36% to 22% in the New York City suburbs. Kennedy, whose base is Manhattan, gets 31% of New York City voters to Cuomo's 29%.
Among others seeking the appointment are Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who gets 6%, U.S. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand at 5% and U.S. Rep. Steve Israel at 2%. Fourteen percent said they were undecided.
The poll is based on telephone calls to 1,664 registered voters from Jan. 8 to 12 and has a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points.
michael.muskal@latimes.com
