By John Mariani and Frederic Pierce
Staff writers
A new poll conducted for a Syracuse television station and its sister radio station last weekend shows the Syracuse mayor's race too close to call and that a substantial number of voters had not made up their minds.
Joanie Mahoney, the Republican candidate, was the likely choice of 40.3 percent of the 800 likely city voters surveyed by Critical Mass Media for WSYR television and radio.
Mayor Matt Driscoll, a Democrat, was the choice of 38.7 percent. Green candidate Howie Hawkins was named by 4.9 percent. But 16.1 percent said they were not sure who they would vote for.
The survey's margin of error was plus or minus 3.3 percentage points, which means the race could go either way.
The results echoed the outcome of a survey of 509 likely Syracuse voters conducted Oct. 14 and 15 for The Post-Standard by the Zogby International research firm. That survey showed Driscoll with a slight lead, but the margin of error meant either candidate could be winning.
The Driscoll campaign held a news conference the day the results were released, accusing the paper of skewing the poll to favor Mahoney, who was endorsed by the paper's editorial board.
No similar claims were made by the Driscoll camp Thursday about the WSYR poll.
"My take on the poll is the same as it was last week," Driscoll said Thursday. "I think it makes for great political theater, and it certainly adds a level of excitement to a political race, but the only one that really counts is on Election Day."
The new poll results are on WSYR-TV's Web site: www.9wsyr.com The survey was taken Saturday and Sunday, said Jim Tortora, WSYR-TV's news director.
Critical Mass Media is a unit of Clear Channel Communications Inc., which also owns the two stations.
Clear Channel is also a strategic partner in the Destiny USA project.
In the paper's Zogby poll, 39.5 percent of the voters surveyed said they would choose Driscoll if the mayoral election were held the day they were asked. About 37.4 percent said they would choose Mahoney. Hawkins received 3.6 percent.
The Post-Standard/Zogby survey had an error margin of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
© 2005 The Post-Standard. Used with permission.
Posted by syracusegreens at October 28, 2005 07:48 PM