New poll: Owens up 5, Scozzafava in 2nd place; Hoffman lags

A poll out this week commissioned by the DailyKos website shows Bill Owens expanding his lead ever so slightly, with the Democrat taking a 35% chunk of the district's electorate.

(That's up 2 points over a week earlier.)

The best news for Owens? He continues to lock in Democrats, grabbing 60% of his (adopted) party's vote. That's up about 12 points from earlier in the month.

Dede Scozzafava is a respectable second, with 30% of the vote. That's spitting distance in a race with 12% of voters still undecided.

Given the challenges facing her campaign -- lack of money, two-front battle -- holding a second place position, within 5 points of the leader gives her bragging rights.

Doug Hoffman, meanwhile, lags considerably, harnessing just 23%. This nudges him back toward "spoiler" status.

This poll was taken through October 21st. That's before the biggest conservative-movement surge for Hoffman (and before some Scozzafava missteps). But can he close a 12-point gap?

Hoffman is doing great among Independents, but (surprisingly) not all that well among Republicans, where Scozzafava outstrips him by 20%.

For self-identified Republicans, there's really no contest here: They want Scozzafava.

Hoffman's campaign is beginning to look more like a traditional, third-party challenge, rather than a "true" Republican challenging an imposter, as he has suggested.

Here's Politico's take:

The Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll provides some encouraging news for Scozzafava, who remains in second place – and within striking distance of Owens – despite a week of bad publicity. It shows her leading Hoffman among Republican voters, 46 to 27 percent.

Some other interesting take-aways:

The "public option" for healthcare reform is popular with a thin majority of North Country voters, with 52% favoring the idea.

Barack Obama is still popular with 53% of the district's voters.

On the other hand, 53% oppose same-sex marriage, with only 39% supporting the idea.

A final note: The question of the DailyKos poll's credibility has been well-debated here.

The survey is widely accepted -- and in no place that I can find has anyone challenged it factually as a sincere effort to gather accurate information.

So...unless someone has anything new on that front to offer, let's talk about the new numbers and what they mean, and not rehash opinions about Kos...