FUCK THE POLICE
911 EVERY DAY
Thanks, TeaTards, for safeguarding the Socialist Revolution!
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/siena_poll_bill_owens_surges_p.html
Siena poll: Bill Owens surges past Dede Scozzafava in NY-23 congressional race
By Mark Weiner / The Post-Standard
October 15, 2009, 9:30AM
Provided photoDemocrat Bill Owens has the lead in a new poll of candidates for the 23rd Congressional District that was released today. But the lead of 4 percentage points is still within the Siena College poll's margin of error. Washington -- Democrat Bill Owens has come from behind to open a slim lead over Republican Dede Scozzafava in the race for the 23rd Congressional District seat, according to an independent poll released today. If he holds onto his lead, Owens, a political newcomer, would become the first Democrat to represent the rural 11-county district of Northern and Central New York since the Civil War era.
Dede ScozzafavaOwens erased a 7 percentage point deficit in the past two weeks and is now the frontrunner with 33 percent of likely voters, the Siena College poll found.
Owens leads Scozzafava by 4 percentage points and Conservative Doug Hoffman by 10 points, according to the poll taken this week by the Siena Research Institute.
Despite the surge by Owens, Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said he sees a race that could come down to the wire on Nov. 3.
“With just 10 points separating the three candidates, this is likely to be a very tight – and fiercely fought – campaign right through Election Day, now less than three weeks away,” Greenberg said today.
He said “given how tight the race is, this election may very well be won by a candidate with less than 40 percent of all the votes cast.”
Siena’s telephone poll of 617 likely voters in the 23rd Congressional District was conducted Sunday through Tuesday. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points, meaning Owens could lead by as many as 8 points or, at worst, be in a statistical tie with Scozzafava.
Doug HoffmanOwens, a Plattsburgh lawyer and Air Force veteran, polled strongest on his home turf near Plattsburgh in the eastern part of the district with 45 percent of the vote.
But in Central New York, the new frontrunner is the Conservative Party’s Hoffman, a Lake Placid accountant who decided to run as a third-party candidate after losing a bid for the GOP nomination.
Hoffman now has the support of 34 percent of likely voters in the southern part of the district surrounding Syracuse in Oswego, Madison and Oneida counties. Owens had 31 percent of the vote and Scozzafava only 21 percent in the Syracuse region.
Scozzafava had her strongest poll numbers around her home in St. Lawrence County, where she led handily with 44 percent of the vote in the new poll.
But in a disturbing trend for her campaign, Scozzfava’s support declined from 53 percent two weeks ago in St. Lawrence, Jefferson and Lewis counties, the Siena pollsters found.
The poll found likely voters thought Owens would do a better job representing them on almost every issue -- the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, education, homeland security, and in bringing more federal money into the district.
Voters were split on the issues of health care reform and taxes, where all three candidates were in a statistical tie.
Only a few percentage points separated Owens from Scozzafava on most of the issues. The biggest gap came on the issue of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where 26 percent thought Owens – an Air Force veteran -- would do the best job. Scozzafava was favored by 19 percent and Hoffman by 18 percent.
In the end, Greenberg said the race will be decided by the 16 percent of voters who said they are still undecided.
The special election to fill the seat vacated by former Rep. John McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor, opened when McHugh resigned to become President Barack Obama’s secretary of the Army.
The open seat is the only House race in the nation this fall, and is seen by many as an important bellwether for the mid-term congressional elections of 2010. As a result, millions of dollars are flowing into the race from political parties and other groups in Washington, D.C.
Scozzfava was in Washington raising money on Wednesday, and Owens is in town today for a fundraising reception headlined by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
McHugh, a moderate Republican, was easily elected to nine terms in the House of Representatives. But the 23rd Congressional District has shown recently that it will support Democrats. Obama carried the district in last year’s presidential election.
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/siena_poll_bill_owens_surges_p.html
Siena poll: Bill Owens surges past Dede Scozzafava in NY-23 congressional race
By Mark Weiner / The Post-Standard
October 15, 2009, 9:30AM


Owens leads Scozzafava by 4 percentage points and Conservative Doug Hoffman by 10 points, according to the poll taken this week by the Siena Research Institute.
Despite the surge by Owens, Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said he sees a race that could come down to the wire on Nov. 3.
“With just 10 points separating the three candidates, this is likely to be a very tight – and fiercely fought – campaign right through Election Day, now less than three weeks away,” Greenberg said today.
He said “given how tight the race is, this election may very well be won by a candidate with less than 40 percent of all the votes cast.”
Siena’s telephone poll of 617 likely voters in the 23rd Congressional District was conducted Sunday through Tuesday. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points, meaning Owens could lead by as many as 8 points or, at worst, be in a statistical tie with Scozzafava.

But in Central New York, the new frontrunner is the Conservative Party’s Hoffman, a Lake Placid accountant who decided to run as a third-party candidate after losing a bid for the GOP nomination.
Hoffman now has the support of 34 percent of likely voters in the southern part of the district surrounding Syracuse in Oswego, Madison and Oneida counties. Owens had 31 percent of the vote and Scozzafava only 21 percent in the Syracuse region.
Scozzafava had her strongest poll numbers around her home in St. Lawrence County, where she led handily with 44 percent of the vote in the new poll.
But in a disturbing trend for her campaign, Scozzfava’s support declined from 53 percent two weeks ago in St. Lawrence, Jefferson and Lewis counties, the Siena pollsters found.
The poll found likely voters thought Owens would do a better job representing them on almost every issue -- the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, education, homeland security, and in bringing more federal money into the district.
Voters were split on the issues of health care reform and taxes, where all three candidates were in a statistical tie.
Only a few percentage points separated Owens from Scozzafava on most of the issues. The biggest gap came on the issue of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where 26 percent thought Owens – an Air Force veteran -- would do the best job. Scozzafava was favored by 19 percent and Hoffman by 18 percent.
In the end, Greenberg said the race will be decided by the 16 percent of voters who said they are still undecided.
The special election to fill the seat vacated by former Rep. John McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor, opened when McHugh resigned to become President Barack Obama’s secretary of the Army.
The open seat is the only House race in the nation this fall, and is seen by many as an important bellwether for the mid-term congressional elections of 2010. As a result, millions of dollars are flowing into the race from political parties and other groups in Washington, D.C.
Scozzfava was in Washington raising money on Wednesday, and Owens is in town today for a fundraising reception headlined by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
McHugh, a moderate Republican, was easily elected to nine terms in the House of Representatives. But the 23rd Congressional District has shown recently that it will support Democrats. Obama carried the district in last year’s presidential election.