Obama leads Santorum in New York
A Quinnipiac University Polling Institute poll of voters in New York shows President Barack Obama leading the surging Republican candidate Rick Santorum by 18 percentage points.
The poll, released Wednesday, shows that New Yorkers prefer President Obama over all of the remaining Republican presidential candidates.
Mr. Obama finished with 53 percent to 35 percent in a hypothetical general election match up with Mr. Santorum. The president leads former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 52 percent to 35 percent, and he leads former House Speaker Newt Gingrich 57 percent to 31 percent.
The Quinnipiac poll did not ask voters in New York to vote on a hypothetical match up between the president and Texas congressman Ron Paul.
However, they did include Mr. Paul when questioning voters regarding the Republican primary race itself.
“New York is blue. Voters give President Barack Obama only fair marks on doing his job and whether he deserves to keep it but he trounces the current Republican crop,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “New York Republicans don’t seem to be joining the ‘anyone-but-Romney’ dance.”
Additionally, Mr. Obama received a 50 percent job approval rating in the poll, and 50 percent of the voters in the poll believe Mr. Obama deserves to be re-elected compared to 45 percent saying he does not deserve to be re-elected.
New York was a Democratic state in the 2008 presidential election, and it appears Mr. Obama will carry New York again in the upcoming election.
New York Republican primary race
The poll also asked voters to vote on the Republican primary race itself, in terms of the remaining candidates without match ups against Mr. Obama.
Despite Mr. Santorum’s recent surge in popularity nationally, Mr. Romney remains the favorite remaining Republican candidate among voters in New York.
Mr. Romney finished the poll with 32 percent of the votes, trailed by Mr. Santorum at 20 percent. Mr. Paul finished in third place with 14 percent and Mr. Gingrich finished in last place with 10 percent of the votes.
Those results show a similar pattern to Mr. Romney having success in northeastern states. Mr. Romney won the New Hampshire Republican primary election in January by a wide margin.
In the recent Maine Republican caucuses, Mr. Romney won with Mr. Paul finishing in a close second place.
The New York Republican primary election is scheduled for April 24th.
The poll was conducted between February 8th and February 13th among 1,233 registered voters in New York with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
