Democrat Madeline Singas has narrowed a polling gap with Republican Kate Murray in the Nassau district attorney race, putting the candidates neck-and-neck going into Tuesday’s election.
A Newsday/News 12/Siena College poll released Saturday showed Hempstead town Supervisor Murray leading Acting District Attorney Singas by one point, 46 percent to 45 percent, with a 4.1-percent margin of error.
Nine percent of the 596 voters polled from Oct. 23-28 said they were undecided in the race.
Donald P. Levy, director of the Siena Research Institute, told Newsday that Murray’s one-point lead is “statistically insignificant from a polling perspective,” calling the race “too close to call.”
The new numbers indicate Singas grew her public support over the past month, as an Oct. 1 poll showed her trailing Murray by six points.
Seventy-four percent of Democrats surveyed and 27 percent of the Republicans saying they would vote for her.
Murray’s support in both parties dropped slightly, from 74 percent to 69 percent among Republicans and from 24 percent to 20 percent among Democrats.
Her campaign spokesman, Bill Corbett, said he was satisfied with the results because Murray still leads.
“We are confident that the voters will respond to Kate’s message and vote for the tough district attorney that Nassau needs — Kate Murray,” he said.
Singas campaign spokesman Isaac Goldberg said he thinks the numbers indicate Singas has “all the momentum” going into election day, also noting her endorsements from five newspapers.
“Nassau County voters want a career prosecutor to fight public corruption and they simply don’t trust a career politician who has never been inside a criminal courtroom,” he said.
The poll also suggests more voters are now familiar with Singas, who has served as DA since January, when former DA and current U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City) took her position in Congress.
Fifty-one percent of those surveyed in late September said they were unfamiliar with Singas or had no opinion of her, compared with 38 percent in the most recent poll.
Both candidates were out making appeals for votes over the weekend. Murray appeared at Republican rallies in Franklin Square, West Hempstead and Elmont, while Singas attended a Long Beach Chamber of Commerce dinner and another event hosted by the North Hempstead Republican Committee, Newsday reported.
Singas also received 37 last-minute campaign donations totaling more than $200,000 between Oct. 20 and Nov. 1, campaign finance records show.
Candidates are required to report any contribution of $1,000 or more that comes after the Oct. 19 cutoff date within 24 hours of receiving it.
Some of Singas’ largest recent donations came from major political contributors.
Nassau Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs gave her $17,000 from his own pocket. Jonathan Soros, son of businessman and prominent political donor George Soros, gave $25,000, as did Bed Bath & Beyond co-founder Leonard Feinstein.
Murray received 32 donations totaling nearly $250,000 in the same period.
$150,000 came from the Nassau County Republican Committee in two separate contributions.
Another large contributor was Renew New York, a political action committee run by former Sen. Al D’Amato. The group made two $10,000 donations to Murray’s campaign.
