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Siena poll: Murphy leads Gibson

Scott Murphy, Chris Gibson

A Siena poll out today reports that Scott Murphy leads Chris Gibson 54-37 for the 20th Congressional District (margin of error +/- 4). Among independents, Murphy's up 58-30. And in Rensselaer and Saratoga counties, he's up 58-36.

When asked which candidate would do a better job representing the district in Congress on a range of issues, Murphy led in each category. The closest was the war in Afghanistan, at 39-31 (Gibson recently retired from the Army -- he was a colonel.) Here's the full breakdown of results.

The poll found that Gibson is trailing close behind Murphy in the southern part of the district. That's not surprising -- Gibson's from Kinderhook. If you drive around Columbia County now, you'll see a bunch of his signs. And he still has about a month-and-a-half to up his name recognition in other parts of the district.

Update: The Gibson campaign sent out a press release this afternoon in an attempt to cast doubt on the Siena poll. The campaign's pollster says the Siena results are "not consistent with other polling in the district" -- and cites results from a poll conducted at the beginning of August by a conservative think tank that reported Murphy was ahead 45-40 (just outside the margin of error).

The release also takes a shot at the Siena poll, noting that its "too close to call" description of the Lazio-Paladino primary "was off by an astounding 24 points."

By the way: When people were asked which issue was most important to them right, 41 percent of respondents said jobs. No other issue was even close.

Murphy photo via campaign site
Gibson photo via campaign Facebook page