Maloneys Poll Points to Easy Victory
By [Dan Rivoli] With barbs being thrown in the race between longtime incumbent Rep. Carolyn Maloney and newcomer Reshma Saujani, the Maloney campaign conducted a poll that shows her cruising to victory. Representing the East Side since 1992 for nine terms in Congress, Maloney is leading her Democratic primary challenger 75 to 7 percent, according to the poll.ˆ The district"s Democrats also give Maloney good job performance ratings. â??Carolyn Maloney fights for her district every day and her constituents continue to recognize her record of results, said campaign spokesperson Alix Anfang. Another problem for Saujani, a former Democratic fundraiser and hedge fund attorney, is that only 17 percent of those polled were undecided, which doesn"t give her that much of an opportunity to increase her support. Washington, D.C."s Lake Research Partners conducted the poll, interviewing 400 likely Democratic primary voters in the district, which includes western Queens and parts of the Lower East Side, between May 10 and 12. Likely voters heard positive messages for both candidates. Maloney was described as a mother and former teacher who secured millions in federal funding for the Second Avenue subway and the East-Side Access project for the Long Island Rail Road. The poll noted that Maloney voted against â??powerful interests by supporting financial and credit card reforms. The poll called Saujani a community activist, attorney, former adviser to Hillary Clinton and legal scholar, whose family fled from Uganda under dictator Idi Amin"s regime. Saujani would use her knowledge of the financial industry to â??crack down on illegal abuses [and] promote healthy financial services, according to the poll. Saujani dismissed the early poll, pointing to the May 18 primary that tested the power of incumbency in three states and the surprise victory of President Barack Obama, who endorsed Maloney. â??While they"re talking about polls we"re talking about jobs and the economy and how to get New York started again, Saujani said in an interview.