Most New York voters have no idea who they want for attorney general or even who’s running, a poll released Wednesday showed.
The Quinnipiac University poll showed 81 percent of Democrats questioned didn’t know who they will vote for in the primary on Sept. 15 and only 3 percent could name any of the five candidates.
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When given names, 11 percent favored Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, 5 percent Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, 4 percent state Sen. Eric Schneiderman, 3 percent attorney Sean Coffey and 2 percent former state Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo.
The Republican nominee is Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan.
“This is an important statewide job,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “It’s a crapshoot.”
The poll questioned 1,165 New Yorkers between last Tuesday and Monday. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
The attorney general represents the state in legal matters, defending lawsuits, bringing civil suits and sometimes investigations and prosecutions. The post also has been a platform for those aspiring to be governor.
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is the front-runner to be elected governor this fall. His predecessor, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, was elected governor, though he later resigned in a prostitution scandal.
Carroll said it’s possible that if any of the Democratic candidates can manage to get all of their friends out to vote in the primary that could be enough to win it. The large number of candidates is also a factor, he said.
“You can win with 20-something-odd percent,” Carroll said.
Rice, a former federal and Brooklyn prosecutor, raised more than $2.9 million over the last six months and has more than $4.1 million on hand, more than the others, according to campaign finance reports. She has recently been criticized by the others following a press report that she failed to vote for almost two decades, something she has acknowledged in public debates was a mistake.
Schneiderman, of Manhattan, who led the legislative investigation that resulted in the expulsion of Sen. Hiram Monserrate following his assault conviction, reported raising $1.6 million over the last six months, with $2.1 million on hand.
Brodsky, of Westchester County, chairs a legislative committee investigating possible fraud in the state’s public authorities. He reported $519,154 in contributions and $1.6 million in the bank.
Dinallo, of Manhattan, also a former corporate attorney, city prosecutor and deputy attorney general, reported raising $787,000 in the last six months and had $1.7 million on hand.
Donovan, a former deputy borough president for Staten Island and Manhattan prosecutor, reported raising $661,570 in the last six weeks with most still on hand. He said he expects to face Schneiderman in November.
On the Net: Quinnipiac: http://www.quinnipiac.edu
By MICHAEL VIRTANEN,Associated Press Writer
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
