Schumer (D) Holds More Than 20-Point Lead in New York Senate Race
New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer is running comfortably ahead of his Republican challenger in the first look at his bid for reelection since last week's party primaries.
A telephone survey of Likely New York voters finds Schumer picking up 58% of the vote to Jay Townsend’s 35%. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate in the race, and four percent (4%) are undecided.
The race is still viewed as Solid Democratic in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Balance of Power rankings.
In mid-June, Schumer led Townsend 54% to 33%. Townsend, a communications consultant, beat former CIA officer Gary Berntsen last week to claim the GOP gubernatorial nomination. Schumer was unchallenged.
Schumer is running for his third term in the Senate. He easily won reelection in 2004 with 70% of the vote in the biggest landslide in the state’s senatorial election history.
Eighty-three percent (83%) of New York Democrats support Schumer, while 70% of the state's GOP voters back Townsend. The two run even among voters not affiliated with either major political party.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey of 500 Likely Voters in New York was conducted on September 16, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Related Articles
Rasmussen Reports is a media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion information.
We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence, we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day. If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a daily update newsletter and various media outlets across the country.
Some information, including the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll and commentaries are available for free to the general public. Subscriptions are available for $4.95 a month or 34.95 a year that provide subscribers with exclusive access to more than 20 stories per week on upcoming elections, consumer confidence, and issues that affect us all. For those who are really into the numbers, Platinum Members can review demographic crosstabs and a full history of our data.
To learn more about our methodology, click here.
