LOUDONVILLE - If the presidential election were held today, neither Democrat – Senator Hillary Clinton or Senator Barack Obama – would get the support of 50 percent of New York voters against Senator John McCain.  Clinton has a four point lead and Obama has a five point lead, according to a new Siena (College) Research Institute poll of registered voters released Tuesday.  The Siena New York poll shows that Governor David Paterson’s favorability rating is down from last month, although nearly half of voters still view him favorably, and voters are evenly divided on whether he is doing a positive or negative job as governor.  Voters, however, do believe the Governor will be successful in improving the State in a variety of ways.  Nearly three-quarters of voters anticipate getting a Federal rebate check, but half of them will use the money to pay outstanding bills and only 20 percent plan to primarily use the money to buy something new.

“With a little more than six months until Election Day, New York is looking more ‘purple’ than ‘blue’ these days, since neither Clinton or Obama gets 50 percent of the vote against McCain, and both Democrats have small and shrinking leads against the Arizona Republican,” said Steven Greenberg, spokesman for the Siena New York Poll.  “New York’s senator, who has the highest unfavorable rating she has ever had in a Siena New York poll, leads McCain 46-42 percent and Obama’s lead over McCain is 45-40 percent.  Both Democrats had seven point leads in February.”

Clinton’s favorable/unfavorable rating is 48-46 percent; Obama’s is 54-34 percent; McCain’s is 54-35 percent.

Paterson’s favorable/unfavorable rating is 48-18 percent, down from 58-10 percent last month.  His job performance rating is 35 percent positive, 34 percent negative, with 32 percent of voters having no opinion.