New Polling Breaks Down Close Race in NY-22 – Conole Trails Williams

The latest polling numbers on the upcoming election in New York's 22nd Congressional District make two things clear - the race is close, and most voters don't know the candidates.

Conducted by the Sienna College Research Institute and Spectrum News between September 25-28, the survey included 453 likely voters in the district. It found the Republican Williams with a 45%-40% advantage over Democrat Francis Conole. The spread falls just within the polls margin of error of 5.1%.

The survey found 72% of registered Democrats in the district are supporting Conole, with ten-percent backing Williams. Conversely, 82% of registered Republicans are behind Williams, with ten-percent planning to vote for Conole. The poll also broke down candidate support within Madison and Oneida counties - where Williams leads 54-33%. In Onondaga and Oswego counties, Conole leads 44-41%.

Of the poll respondents, 55% said they didn't know or have an opinion of Conole, while 62% said they didn't know or have an opinion of Williams.

The survey also measured support for the two candidates in the Gubernatorial race. It found the GOP's Lee Zeldin with a 47-44% lead over Democrat Kathy Hochul among voters in the 22nd district.

Key Issues

Sienna/Specturm also asked potential voters about their most important issues and asked if the country was headed in the right direction. By a margin of 63-25%, voters said the country was not headed in the right direction. The key issues identified were the economy, threats to our democracy, abortion, crime, and national gun policies.

“Nearly three-quarters of Republicans and independents say economic issues are one of their top two issues in choosing candidates this year, compared to 43% of Democrats. A similar number of Democrats – 44% – said abortion is one of their top two voting issues, although that is only identified by 17% of independents and 14% of Republicans,” said Sienna Pollster Steve Greenberg. “For women, abortion is the second most important voting issue, behind economic issues, while for men it ranks sixth.”