ALBANY – Freshman Republican Michael Grimm holds a 10-point lead in his bid for re-election in a redrawn, blue-leaning Staten Island-based congressional district, according to a new poll.
Though President Obama holds a four-point edge over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in New York’s new 11th congressional district, Grimm leads Democratic challenger Mark Murphy 48-38 percent, the Siena College poll found.
Catholics favor Grimm by 25 points, while district voters give him a solid lead over Murphy on handling jobs and the federal budget deficit, the Sept. 19-23 telephone poll of 621 likely voters found.
Though Democrats far outnumber Republicans in the Staten Island-Brooklyn district, voters are evenly split over Obamacare and only narrowly favor repealing Bush-era tax cuts on $250,000-plus earners.
The poll has a margin of error or plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.