Albany Watch

   A new Marist College poll that coincides with news today that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has decided not to run for governor found that he would easily win over Democratic Gov. David Paterson but would have his work cut out for him if Attorney General Andrew Cuomo ran instead of Paterson. 

   Among registered voters, Giuliani would get 60 percent to Paterson’s 35 percent, according to the poll. But Cuomo would get 53 percent and Giuliani would garner 43 percent of the vote in a hypothetical matchup.

   If Giuliani ran for U.S. Senate, which he has not ruled out as a possibility, he would have more of a chance of success. Fifty-four percent of voters said they would vote for Giuliani, a Republican, over freshman Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat. One-third of Democrats surveyed said they would opt for Giuliani.

   Marist found that if a GOP primary for U.S. Senate were held today, 71 percent of voters would choose Giuliani, compared to 24 percent for former Gov. George Pataki, who has also been talked about as a potential candidate.

   Republican Rick Lazio is considering a run for governor, so not having Giuliani in the picture would help Lazio. Lazio, a former U.S. representative, would garner 13 percent of the GOP vote compared to 84 percent for Giuliani, according to Marist.

   “It’s good news for Andrew Cuomo and Rick Lazio but potentially a huge problem for Kirsten Gillibrand,” Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Poll, said in a statement. “If Giuliani were to capture the U.S. Senate seat from heavily Democratic New York State, it would return him to the national spotlight big time.”