Unlike in past elections, Cuomo has succeeded at securing the support of many groups that traditionally turn out voters in Democratic primaries. | AP Photo Cuomo leads Nixon by 36 points in latest Quinnipiac poll

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo leads Democratic primary challenger Cynthia Nixon 59-23 in a Quinnipiac University Poll released Wednesday morning, expanding the streak of polls that bode well for the governor as he seeks a third term.

Among registered Democrats, Cuomo led Nixon in each of the 15 demographic groups broken out by the poll. He seems to have been aided by the fact that he’s already served in office.


“New Yorkers say 59-30 percent they want a gubernatorial candidate with experience in politics over someone new to it,” Quinnipiac polling analyst Mary Snow said in a statement. “Democrats, non-white voters and women, in particular, lead the charge in that preference.”

While Cuomo’s numbers fluttered a little after Nixon started to campaign in March, this represents the second straight poll by one of the institutes that regularly surveys New Yorkers in which he’s had a lead of 35 points or more.

The big caveat with this and every other poll that has been released to date, however, is that it doesn’t deal with a perfect sample of who is likely to vote in a primary; it deals with registered voters, less than a fifth of whom are likely to show up in September.

Unlike in past elections, Cuomo has succeeded at securing the support of many groups that traditionally turn out voters in Democratic primaries, particularly organized labor. That would typically suggested that he’s likely to perform just as well among primary voters as among registered Democrats as a whole. But in a year in which a large number of liberals are clearly dissatisfied with establishment politicians, there’s still an air of uncertainly that leaves the door narrowly cracked open for Nixon.

In a hypothetical scenario in which every candidate running for governor remains on the ballot in November, Cuomo would win with 43 percent of the vote. Republican Marc Molinaro would receive 23 percent, and Nixon, running on the Working Families Party’s line, would get 13 percent. Third-party candidates Stephanie Miner, Howie Hawkins and Larry Sharpe would divide 6 percent of the vote and 14 percent of respondents remain undecided.

Cuomo led Molinaro 57-31 in a one-on-one matchup.

New York City Public Advocate Tish James led the four-way Democratic attorney general primary with 26 percent to Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney’s 15 percent, Zephyr Teachout’s 12 percent and Leecia Eve’s 3 percent.

“The clear winner in the Democratic primary for State Attorney General right now is undecided,” Snow said.

The poll surveyed 934 voters, including 415 Democrats, from July 12 through 16. The numbers on the primaries had a margin of error of 6.2 points.

View the crosstabs here.