One day ahead of a special congressional election to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Chris Lee (R) in a traditionally red district, a new PPP poll finds Democrat Kathy Hochul on top by six points.
Among likely voters, Hochul came in at 42%, followed by Republican Jane Corwin at 36%, and Tea Party candidate Jack Davis at 13%.
Democrats have sought to use the election as a referendum on the Republican plan to privatize Medicare, a plan that polls have shown is politically poisonous. Hochul has repeatedly slammed Corwin for saying she would support the Ryan plan, and Democratic group House Majority PAC ran ads also targeting Corwin’s avowed backing of that plan.
That strategy appears to have paid off, Hochul came from behind to begin posting leads in several recent polls of the race. A Sienna College poll released Saturday showed Hochul leading Corwin by 4 points among likely voters, 42% to 38%, a sizable shift from late April when Corwin led by a four-point margin.
The TPM Poll Average shows Hochul with 37.5% to Corwin’s 35.3% and Davis’ 18%.
Rep. Lee, who is married, resigned abruptly earlier this year when it surfaced that he had posted shirtless pictures of himself to Craigslist in an attempt to pick up dates.
The PPP poll was conducted May 21-22 among 1,106 likely voters. It has a margin of error of 2.9%.
