By JON CAMPBELL
Albany Bureau
ALBANY -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has more than doubled his lead in New York heading toward the state's April 24 presidential primary, topping fellow Republican Rick Santorum by 33 points statewide, according to a survey released Tuesday.
Fifty-one percent of likely New York Republican voters said they plan on voting for Romney, the Siena College poll found.
Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania, took home 18 percent, while Rep. Ron Paul garnered 11 percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich trailed with 6 percent.
Romney expanded his lead significantly since last month's Siena poll, when he led Santorum by 15 points.
"As the Republican Party leadership has rallied behind Romney, so too it appears, have Republican voters in New York," Siena pollster Steve Greenberg said in a statement. "Romney has extended the 15-point lead over Santorum he held last month to a now nearly three-to-one 33-point lead."
New York holds 95 delegates for the presidential primary, which will be distributed proportionally based on the results of the primary vote.
Meanwhile, the race to challenge Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is still up in the air, the poll found.
Of Republican voters, 66 percent said they haven't made up their mind among the three GOP candidates: Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos, Manhattan attorney Wendy Long and Rep. Bob Turner of Queens. Of those who have made a decision, 19 percent back Turner, 10 percent are behind Long, and 5 percent picked Maragos.
Matched up individually against Gillibrand, all three of the Republican candidates would lose by at least 40 points, according to Siena.
"With a two-to-one favorability rating and a majority prepared to re-elect her, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand continues to look strong seven months from her first re-election attempt," Greenberg said in a statement.
In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo increased his approval rating following the passage of a second straight on-time budget, with 73 percent of New Yorkers saying they have a favorable view of the first-term governor. That's a four-point improvement over his April rating, and four points shy of his all-time high of 77 percent in February 2011.
Siena surveyed 808 New York voters between April 1 and 4, with a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points. For the GOP primary queries, 218 Republicans were surveyed with a margin of error of 6.6 percentage points.
Gannett