New polling gives Dems the edge in NY-19

The first public polling in the closely watched race for the 19th Congressional District has Democrat Josh Riley leading Republican Marc Molinaro. According to an internal poll from the Riley campaign obtained exclusively by City & State, 47% of likely voters polled would vote for Riley, while 44% backed Molinaro. What’s more, the margin grows slightly wider when it gives likely voters similarly long positive descriptions of both candidates, with Riley’s support getting up to 51% and Molinaro’s hitting 46%. But the results of the election are still very much in the air – Riley’s slim lead falls within the poll’s 5% margin of error, and a generic ballot matchup suggests a dead heat with just 1 percentage point separating the two parties in the district, which stretches from the Hudson Valley to the Southern Tier. And Molinaro, the Dutchess County executive who previously ran for governor, enjoys far greater name recognition than Riley, who moved back to the district after working as a D.C. lawyer representing clients facing Congressional investigations. The poll of 403 likely voters in the district from both parties was conducted by Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group by landline and cell phones between August 29 and September 1, so it’s still anyone’s race for the hotly contested seat.