Andrew Giuliani holds a narrow lead over party-backed candidate Rep. Lee Zeldin ahead of the June 28 gubernatorial primary, according to a new poll of primary voters.
The former White House aide had the support of 28.1% of likely Republican voters compared to 22.8% for Zeldin, according to the survey conducted by longtime pollster John Zogby.
Former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino came in third with 13.7% and businessman Harry Wilson garnered the support 10.3% of respondents.
“We’re in a really good position,” Giuliani told The Post Thursday. “More and more people are starting to hear our message and it’s a message of hope.”
Giuliani enjoys relatively high name recognition among GOP voters because of his famous father, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, which he has leveraged in the race. Giuliani has also attacked Zeldin as a purported pawn of ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo based on comments made while the Long Island Republican was a state senator.
“I don’t believe that this poll is reflective of the current state of the race based on data that I see on a weekly basis,” GOP state Chair Nick Langworthy, who is supporting Zeldin, told The Post.
Gov. Kathy Hochul had the support of 49.4% of Democrats included in the survey while Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Nassau) respectively got 14% and 10%.
The survey, which showed a quarter of GOP voters as undecided, is the latest sign that the Republican race for governor remains up in the air despite Zeldin’s relative success at fundraising and support from party leaders.
“This is a fake, wildly inaccurate poll … every other recent poll has shown Congressman Zeldin as the clear frontrunner,” Zeldin spokeswoman Katie Vincentz said in a text.
A May 4 Emerson College poll showed Zeldin with an eight-point lead over Giuliani while an internal poll from the Zeldin camp showed him with a hefty lead over his rivals in April.
An April 10 Zogby survey showed Zeldin with a slim lead over Giuliani weeks before controversial comments about abortion and gun rights by Zeldin exposed him to new rounds of political attacks from the political left and right.
Unite NY, a group supporting Wilson, commissioned the latest Zogby poll showing the Western New York businessman dead last in the race. But his campaign says it sees a silver lining in the results.
“It’s no surprise that Zeldin is fading because the last thing New Yorkers want is to elect another political insider,” a spokeswoman for the Wilson campaign said in a text.
Astorino likewise expressed optimism that he could surge in the final weeks of the primary campaign at the expense of his rivals.
“Zeldin continues to falter as voters learn more about his time in Albany where he was one of Andrew Cuomo’s top allies,” a spokesman said in a text.
