Siena Poll Shocker: Tedisco leads overall, but trails Murphy in North Country

by Brian Mann on February 26th, 2009

Republican Jim Tedisco has an “early” 46-34% lead over Democrat Scott Murphy, according to Siena College’s brand new poll. I put “early” in quotes because the clock is ticking fast in this special election season.

Here’s one shocker: Republican Tedisco is polling strongest in the Capital Region, while Democrat Murphy is running strongest in the North Countgry.

According to Siena, a lot of voters are still listening before making up their minds.

“Jim Tedisco currently has a 12-point lead over Scott Murphy in a distrit that has a 15-point Republican enrollment edge,” said Steven Greenberg, spokesman for the Siena New York Poll. “And one of every five likely voters says that they have not yet made a choice in this special election.”

Siena found that Murphy, who lives in Glens Falls, enjoys a 2-point lead in the northern end of the district. Tedisco, on the other hand, has powered to a 2o-point lead in Rensselaer and Saratoga Counties.

The Democrat’s big hurdle is still the lack of name recognition. Sixty percent of respondents told Siena they don’t know enough about Murphy to have an opinion about him.

The Republican’s big hurdle? He hasn’t put this one away yet. Tedisco’s team would surely love to be above 50% right now.

Five weeks to go to the finish line.