In an ironic turn of events, Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) is currently trailing his Republican opponent, Mike Lawler, is his New York Congressional race according to reporting by the New York Post of an internal GOP poll. Maloney is the Democrat Campaign Chief who has the main responsibility of getting Democrats elected, yet he may not win his own race.
The internal poll was conducted by McLaughlin & Associates which showed the Republican candidate Lawler ahead by six percentage points in New York’s Seventeenth Congressional District.
The district covers the lower Hudson Valley just north of strongly leaning NYC districts and the poll showed the Republican leading with 52 percent of the vote to Maloney’s support at only 46%. The poll surveyed 400 likely general election voters during the timeframe of October 10th through 12th with a 4.9% projected margin of error.
According to an interview with the New York Post, pollster Jim McLaughlin said “voters in New York’s 17th Congressional District remain frustrated with the current state of the country, specifically regarding inflation, the economy, and crime. Maloney and his extreme views on issues such as cashless bail, taxes, spending, inflation, and ethics are being exposed, and this is making Maloney very unpopular with voters.
Republican candidate Lawler has seen his support increase in the past month. A poll conducted on September 6th through the 8th showed his lead 2 percentage points less than today with the Republican at 49% to Maloney’s 45%.
Lawler is the former executive director of the New York State Republican Party and served his first term in the state Assembly this past year. Maloney has been in Congress for 5 terms and seeking reelection. He is the current head of the DCCC and must decide on which Democratic candidates to support who can likely win election.
Recently, Maloney decided to change which district in New York he would run for election in, thinking it would be easier to win. The polls are showing that may not be the case.
The same internal poll also showed a very high percentage of Americans believed the United States is on the wrong track with 56% disapproving of President Biden’s first term in office.