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Siena Poll Shows Cuomo Holding Lead Over Astorino

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo is maintaining a double-digit lead over his Republican challenger, but he could be vulnerable to a challenge from the left, according to a poll of New York voters released Tuesday.

The Siena College poll shows the Democrat leading Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino 58 percent to 28 percent. Cuomo had a lead of 61 percent to Astorino's 26 percent in Siena's poll last month.

EXTRA: Click Here For Full Poll Results

Astorino, who announced his candidacy last month, remains largely unknown, with 66 percent of polled voters either not knowing who he is or having no opinion of him with seven months left until the election.

If the race were to include a candidate from the left-leaning Working Families Party, Cuomo's lead over Astorino is cut by about 15 points, with 39 percent of polled voters favoring Cuomo and 24 percent each for Astorino and the unnamed WFP candidate.

The poll found Cuomo's favorability rating was 57 to 38 percent, down from 58 to 34 percent last month.

"There is some level of dissatisfaction with Gov. Cuomo on the left -- those among the more liberal side of the Democratic party," Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg told 1010 WINS. "They are a little frustrated with the governor right now."

The poll also found that voters are lukewarm about Cuomo's test program to let 20 hospitals statewide provide medical marijuana to seriously ill patients.

Siena reports that 26 percent of voters said they prefer the governor's program while 51 percent, the highest number recorded in polling so far, support legalizing medical marijuana and 21 percent want to keep it illegal.

The telephone poll of 772 registered voters was conducted April 12 to 17. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

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