Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) has a double-digit lead on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) among registered New York voters in a hypothetical 2010 Senate match-up, according to a Marist poll conducted Nov. 12, 16 and 17.

Giuliani was all over the headlines in New York on Thursday after associates leaked word he would not run for governor, as many had expected. Giuliani is reportedly more interested in the Senate race, and with good reason, according to the Marist results. He trumps Gillibrand, the freshman senator appointed in January, with a majority of voters, 54 to 40 percent. The margin of error was 3.5 percent.

Giuliani leads both among Republicans -- 84 to 12 percent -- and independents -- 55 to 41 percent. He even takes a third of Democratic voters, trailing Gillibrand 59 to 33 percent.

The outlook for Republicans in the New York governor's race hinges almost entirely on whether the party can lure former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani into the race, according to a poll conducted Oct. 14-18 by Siena College's Research Institute.

Giuliani's standing has risen among New York registered voters, the poll finds, with a 60 percent approval rating, near his 63 percent all-time high in the Siena poll. Giuliani now trails Attorney General Andrew Cuomo -- the Democrats' favored candidate -- by 7 percentage points, 43 to 50 percent, after several months of lagging in the double-digits.

And Giuliani would crush incumbent Democrat David A. Paterson by more than 20 percent, 56 to 33 percent. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.9 percent.

That stands in stark contrast to the polling performance by the GOP's one declared candidate, former Rep. Rick Lazio, who trails well behind Cuomo, 21 percent to 66 percent, and even lags behind the unpopular Paterson, 39 percent to 37. And Lazio has a net unfavorable rating -- 27 percent with 23 percent who view him favorably. Fifty percent of voters have no opinion of him.

But Lazio is starting to rally GOP support, nabbing the endorsement of new Suffolk County Republican party chair John Jay LaValle on Tuesday.

Former New York City Mayor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani could make a race out of the 2010 governor's contest, if early polling is any indication.

A Rasmussen poll of likely voters conducted July 14 showed that not only is Giuliani leading unpopular Democratic incumbent David A. Paterson by more than 20 percentage points, but he's also within single digits of highly popular Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

In a hypothetical match-up, Cuomo, a Democrat, leads Giuliani 48 percent to 41 percent with 6 percent supporting another candidate and 6 percent unsure.

Another poll augurs a close primary contest between New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney in 2010.

A Rasmussen survey of likely Democratic voters conducted July 14 found that 33 percent supported Maloney and 27 percent supported Gillibrand in a hypothetical match-up. That spread is just outside the 5 percent margin of error. Thirty percent of respondents were unsure whom they would vote for.

The poll's results aren't very conclusive since neither Gillibrand nor Maloney are particularly well known to the Democratic electorate.

Forty-nine percent had a favorable or somewhat favorable impression of their sitting senator, 25 percent had a somewhat or very unfavorable impression and 26 percent were unsure. Maloney registered similar numbers - 42 percent held a favorable or somewhat favorable view of the Manhattan-based House member, 24 percent viewed her unfavorably and 34 percent were unsure.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is statistically tied with Rep. Carolyn Maloney when matched up in a Democratic primary in 2010, according to a Marist poll conducted June 23-29.

Should she get past Maloney, Gillibrand leads two Republicans matched-up with her in the poll, but the one over whom she has the most comfortable lead - Rep. Peter King - has signaled he would not make the race because of the huge amounts of campaign money he would have to raise.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand trails Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a likely primary rival, 23 percent to 27 percent, in a new Quinnipiac University Polling Institute survey that suggests that contest could be anybody's race.

Of the registered Democrats who responded to the poll, 44 percent called themselves undecided.

Labor activist Jonathan Tasini was barely on the boards, as the favorite of 4 percent of respondants.

The percentage of voters who approve of the performance of beleaguered New York Gov. David Paterson has fallen to 30 percent with 54 percent disapproving of the job he is doing, according to a New York Times/Cornell University/NY1 poll conducted May 29-June 3. That's a dramatic reversal from his approval-to-disapproval ration in June 2008, which was 49 percent to 16 percent.

Seventy-one percent said someone else besides Paterson should be elected to a full-term in 2010.

He scores 27 percent or lower when respondents were asked if he cares about the needs of people like themselves, his ability to deal with a serious crisis, his ability to bring jobs to New York, his capacity for working with lawmakers to balance the budget, or whether he could reduce property taxes.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo may deny he is considering a gubernatorial run in 2010, but nearly two-thirds of New Yorkers think he will be a candidate. A Siena Research Institute poll conducted May 18 to 21 found that 64 percent of registered voters expect Cuomo to run for the post next year. And 47 percent of voters said they would prefer he run for governor, compared to 33 percent who would like to see him run for re-election as Attorney General.

Registered Democrats said they would vote for Cuomo over current Democratic Gov. David A. Paterson, 70 percent to 19 percent. In a hypothetical match-up Cuomo would soundly defeat Republican Rudy Giuliani, 53 percent to 41 percent. If the Democrats nominate Paterson, however, voters said they would go for Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, 59 percent to 31 percent. Reiterating the incumbent's low public standing. Just 15 percent of voters said they would vote for Paterson in 2010, while 71 percent said they would prefer to elect someone else as governor. Paterson's 27 favorable rating matched Siena's April poll findings, and is his lowest rating since he took over the state's reigns in March 2008.

New York voters seem to be taking time to make up their minds about their appointed senator, Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand.

Fully 43 percent of respondents in the latest Marist poll couldn't rate her job performance, while 19 percent said she was doing an excellent or good job and 38 percent said she was performing either fair or poor in her new office.

In hypothetical head-to-head matchups, Gillibrand trailed former Republican Gov. George Pataki -- of the 1,029 registered voters surveyed on April 28 and 29, 38 percent preferred Gillibrand while 46 percent favored Pataki. When pollsters asked the same question in March, the outcome was 45 percent for Gillibrand and 41 percent for Pataki.

The 2010 outlook still looks murky for New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand who was named by Gov. David Paterson to fill the seat vacated by Hillary Clinton. She is still so unknown, as are her potential Democratic and Republican challengers, that it is hard to read much into the potential match-ups and favorability numbers in the latest Quinnipiac University poll conducted April 1-5.

Sixty-four percent of voters said they don't know enough about Gillibrand to have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of her, and that's true for 53 percent upstate where her former congressional seat was located. Sixty-eight percent have not heard enough about Long Island Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, a potential Democratic challenger, to have an opinion of her. And 67 percent say the same about Republican Rep. Peter King.

McCarthy leads Gillibrand 33 percent to 29 percent among Democratic voters if the two faced each other in a primary, with 33 percent undecided. (The margin of error is 3.8 points). In a general election match-up, Gillibrand leads King 40 percent to 28 percent with 28 percent undecided.

The fallout from the Caroline Kennedy-for-Senate saga in New York continues. Quinnipiac University poll conducted Feb. 10-15. New York Gov. David Paterson took a hit from his handling of the appointment to the seat vacated by Hillary Clinton with his job approval rating falling from a 50 percent to 30 percent positive approval ratio late last month to 45 percent to 41 percent. Voters disapproved of the way he handled the Senate matter by 52 percent to 35 percent.

Quinnipiac also found that the candidate Paterson spurned in choosing upstate Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand - Attorney General Andrew Cuomo - would be preferred by Democrats 55 percent to 23 percent in a 2010 Democratic primary for governor. Cuomo's favorable to unfavorable numbers are 63 percent to 15 percent while Paterson's are 41 percent to 35 percent.

The Caroline Kennedy mix-up still haunts Gov. David Paterson," said Quinnipiac's Maurice Carroll. "In numbers which could tempt Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to take another shot at Governor, Paterson trails Cuomo 2 - 1 among Democratic voters and scratches out a tie with (former New York City) Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the general election."

Newly-appointed New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has "her work cut out for her" when it comes to standing for re-election in 2010, according to a Siena Research Institute poll conducted Jan. 25-27.

The survey of New York registered voters said 21 percent are prepared to support her in 2010 while 29 percent prefer someone else. A big part of that work she has to do is with her own party where that figure is 20 percent for her in 2010 and 28 percent against, (by contrast, 24 percent of Republicans say they would support her while 28 percent are opposed). Among Democrats, 63 percent would like to see someone challenge her in a primary while only 11 percent want to see her run unopposed.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, whose husband was killed by a deranged gunman and is a strong gun control advocate, has already said she'd oppose Gillibrand if no one else did because of Gillibrand's support of gun owners' rights.

Despite criticism of the way New York Gov. David Paterson handled the filling of Hillary Clinton's vacant Senate seat, more New York registered voters blamed Caroline Kennedy and her aides for the flame-out of her Senate bid than they do Paterson or his team, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted Jan. 23-25.

Forty-nine percent blamed the Kennedy side compared to 15 person who singled out Paterson, 12 percent blamed both equally and 24 percent had no opinion.