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Albany might not be immune to the “throw the bums out” fever sweeping the country after all.
Comptroller hopeful Harry Wilson and attorney-general wannabe Dan Donovan — two upstart Republicans taking on Capitol incumbents — have pulled even with their Democratic rivals after trailing by large margins for weeks, according to a shocking new poll released yesterday.
Wilson, a former Wall Street exec in his first campaign for public office, is tied at 44 percent with Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, the Siena College survey found.
Donovan — the Staten Island DA — and longtime state Sen. Eric Schneiderman are also tied at 44 percent.
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The late surge from two candidates who were little-known statewide and had seemed destined for the dust heap of the 2010 election cycle could be a sign that New York voters are hungry for change, political watchers said.
Jeanne Zaino, a political-science professor from Iona College, said that the sudden gains of Donovan and Wilson are part of a larger, national theme.
“When you’re tied like this, the independent vote is going to decide. In these cases, you wouldn’t want to be an incumbent like DiNapoli or an insider like Schneiderman,” she said.
Just a few weeks ago, Wilson was 17 points behind DiNapoli, a longtime assemblyman from Long Island who was appointed comptroller by state lawmakers after Alan Hevesi resigned in disgrace.
The Siena poll — conducted from Wednesday to Saturday — found Wilson made strong gains in the suburbs, erasing a 14-point lead there for DiNapoli to a carve out a 9-point advantage. Wilson also is ahead upstate, leading by 16 points. Previously, DiNapoli was winning upstate.
Wilson, speaking at a campaign stop near Albany, credited his surge with people suddenly paying attention.
“I think people don’t focus on this race as much as they could or should. Now, as we get to the final days, people are focused on it,” he said.
DiNapoli said he’s not surprised it’s a competitive race, and he’s “confident” he’ll win.
“The polls have been all over the place. As I’ve said, even when the polls weren’t very favorable for me, the only poll that matters is how the voters cast their vote on Nov. 2,” he said on NY1 last night.
Donovan also got good news from the Siena poll, which shows him suddenly tied with Schneiderman after being down by 7 points in the same poll a few weeks ago.
Schneiderman still has a big lead in New York City — he represents the Upper West Side — but Donovan has opened up a 21-point advantage in the suburbs.
Donovan has also improved his support among fellow Republicans, and has the majority of independents behind him.
“The polls show we are now tied. People know that [Schneiderman] is part of the problem in Albany, and he’s tied in with all the people that are now getting investigated,” Donovan said.
A Schneiderman spokesman said his campaign was “thrilled” to be entering the race’s final days with a “significant advantage in resources to get our vote out.”