Trump, NY Rep. Anthony D’Esposito surge 7 points ahead in traditional Dem stronghold: internal poll
Donald Trump and Long Island GOP Rep. Anthony D’Esposito are 7 percentage points ahead of their foes in New York’s Fourth Congressional District — a traditional Dem stronghold, a new internal poll shows.
A McLaughlin & Associates survey conducted last month and paid for by D’Esposito’s campaign shows the former NYPD detective leading challenger and ex-Hempstead, LI, Town Supervisor Laura Gillen, 45% to 38%, and ex-President Trump beating President Biden, 51% to 44%, in the Nassau County district.
The congressman is currently winning over a majority of independent voters from his opponent (51%-30%) and a plurality of Hispanic voters (45%-31%), with 17% of the entire electorate still undecided, according to poll results obtained by The Post.
D’Esposito beat Gillen and flipped the district in 2022 after more than 20 years of Democratic control — one of several race results that yielded a narrow Republican majority in the House.
Now he and other freshman New York Republican Reps. Nick LaLota, Nick Langworthy, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro and Brandon Williams are looking to expand that majority in 2024.
The district elected Biden, now 81, to the presidency by nearly 10 percentage points in 2020. Trump is 78.
Nearly six out of 10 of the likely voters (59%) in the district disapprove of President Biden’s job performance, compared with 44% who approve, the poll shows.
At least 54% “strongly disapprove” of the president’s performance.
D’Esposito also recorded a 15-point, net-positive margin for his job-performance rating — with 44% approving of him — while Gillen is only 4 points net positive — with 29% approving of her.
A plurality of 43% have never heard of the former Hempstead town supervisor — despite heavy backing from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee through its “Red to Blue” initiative to take back the seat, Spectrum News NY1 reported.
D’Esposito’s principal campaign committee had more than $1.3 million cash on hand as of the last quarterly filing in April, Federal Election Commission records show.
Gillen’s campaign recorded nearly $900,000 cash on hand, according to its first quarter 2024 filing.
A former NYPD detective, D’Esposito has been a staunch supporter of federal efforts to support law enforcement and crack down on lawlessness.
He and Lawler joined a handful of members in April to confront Columbia University administrators who allowed an anti-Israel tent city to be erected on the Manhattan campus, leading to the harassment and intimidation of Jewish students.
D’Esposito, who previously served as a councilman in Hempstead, defeated Gillen in 2022 to win the Fourth District seat previously held by Democratic Rep. Kathleen Rice.
“Democrats will have only themselves to blame in November when voters of all party affiliations across New York reject the far-left and re-elect me and my Republican colleagues so we can continue fighting in Washington to eradicate violent crime from our streets, end President Biden’s reckless inflation-inducing spending spree, and secure America’s borders,” D’Esposito said in a statement.
McLaughlin & Associated conducted the poll from May 21 to 23 and surveyed through landline, cell phone and text messages 400 likely general election voters in New York’s Fourth District.
The survey’s margin of error was plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.
