Poll: Rep. Grimm leads Murphy by double digits

A new poll puts Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) comfortably ahead of Democratic challenger Mark Murphy, even as the congressman is dogged by a federal investigation into his campaign donations.

The poll, from Siena College, gives Grimm 48 percent support to Murphy's 38. Grimm also takes 31 percent of Democrats and 44 percent of independent voters; Murphy takes 56 percent Democratic support and 35 percent independent support.

Murphy also underperforms compared to his party's presidential nominee: President Obama leads Mitt Romney by 4 percentage points in the district.

And Grimm holds an advantage over Murphy on each of the seven issues Siena polled, including the most important — jobs and the federal budget deficit. On both, Grimm enjoys a double-digit lead.  

It doesn't seem that the investigation into possibly illegal campaign donations Grimm received has marred his reputation in the district considerably. Fifty percent of voters have a favorable opinion of him. 

And he remains in the news in the district after his office was vandalized in what Grimm called a "politically motivated crime," though police have thus far found no evidence of a break-in or that anything had been taken from the office.

But a full 45 percent of those polled say they have no opinion of Murphy, indicating he might be able to shore up some support if he's able to introduce himself to voters in the last six weeks of the campaign.

The poll was conducted among 621 likely voters from Sept. 19-23 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

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