Politics

Hillary Gets A Boost

April 22, 1999 / 2:17 PM EDT / AP

Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign-style foray into New York this week may have halted a slide in her poll numbers, an independent pollster said Thursday.

"First lady Hillary Clinton comes barnstorming through New York, the media provides extensive coverage, and it breathes new life into those poll numbers," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac College Polling Institute.

The latest statewide Quinnipiac poll, released Thursday, had Mrs. Clinton favored by 49 percent of voters questioned to 41 percent for New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in a possible matchup for next year's Senate race in New York. Both are considering the race.

The poll, conducted in part during Mrs. Clinton's event-crammed visit Monday and Tuesday to New York City and Long Island, did appear to halt a downward trend in her numbers.

A Quinnipiac poll released Feb. 23, a week after the first lady first said she was considering the race for the seat being vacated by Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan, had Mrs. Clinton leading the Republican mayor, 54 percent to 36 percent.

A March 23 Quinnipiac poll showed her still leading Giuliani, but only by 50 percent to 39 percent. A follow-up poll from the Hamden, Conn.-based institute released a week ago, had Mrs. Clinton at 47 percent and Giuliani at 42 percent.

The latest telephone poll of 1,128 registered voters was conducted April 14-20 and has a margin of error or plus or minus 3 percentage points.

In a related development, it was announced that Mrs. Clinton will attend a major state Democratic Party fund-raising dinner next week in New York.

It will be the first openly political event in New York for the first lady since she announced in February she was considering running for the Senate seat being vacated next year by Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Just last week, top political adviser Harold Ickes had said that due to an apparent scheduling conflict, Mrs. Clinton wouldn't be able to attend the state party event. While Ickes cited scheduling problems, there were apparently other considerations as well.

"She goes to a Democratic dinner like that, she may as well announce,'' said one adviser to the first lady who spoke at the time only on condition of anonymity.