The National Rifle Association has barely donated any money from their $18 million fund to help the Astorino campaign win. This is extremely surprising because he is fighting for more lenient gun laws, and he is also against Cuomo's Safe Act. The Astorino campaign has managed to raise only $5 million, and 10% of that money is from Astorino's own pocket. This is barely anything when compared to Governor Cuomo's campaign, which raised $12 million, and it still has access to another $24 million. This difference in the funds of each campaign is not small, and due to this difference the Astorino campaign really needs support from the National Rifle Association.
According to Robert Spitzer, a gun policy and political science expert at SUNY Cortland, the NRA does not want to fund the Astorino campaign because they want to maximize their spending on close races where their money might actually make a difference. According to the polls New Yorkers like the Safe Act so even if the NRA helped Astorino to fight the Safe Act their fight would be abortive because New Yorkers like the law. However, there are some people in New York that are still against the Safe Act and the Astorino campaign is reaching out to these people through many gun organizations and requesting them to vote for him on election day.
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/10/astorino_fails_to_cash_in_on_ny_safe_act_in_race_against_cuomo.html
The NRA is making a smart move here. They're predicting that Astorino will lose even if they give him money. That would just be a waste of their money.
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ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a wise decision on the NRA's part because not only do they realize that Astorino's campaign will need some miracle to win, but also endorse his campaign which in turn shows their doubt for their candidate's success. In fact, the NRA is donated $2 million to combat the former NYC mayor's attempt for stricter gun laws-though he's not even running. This lack of trust may just sway voters' decisions.
ReplyDeleteI think this is finacially a smart move for the NRA. Governor Cuomo is far ahead in the races and unless something major happens to swing voters towards Astorino, he is not likely to win. Funding Astorino's campaign will most likely not swing voters in NY because the use of guns is not as big of a problem here as other issues such as education.
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