Owens leads DailyKos poll

Bill Owens, the Democrats' candidate for the 23rd Congressional District, has a five-point lead over Republican Dede Scozzafava, 35 percent to 30 percent, with Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman trailing 12 points behind the leader, according to a poll just released by the progressive political blog DailyKos.

Twelve percent were undecided. The poll, which gathered 600 respondents between Monday and Wednesday, has a margin of error of plus or minus four percent.

Here are some of the highlights.

• Mr. Hoffman's supporters lean slightly toward Ms. Scozzafava if their candidate weren't in the race, 9 percent to Mr. Owens' 3 percent. Most say they would be undecided if the Conservative candidate were not on the ballot
• Ms. Scozzafava is, by far, the most polarizing canidate. Her favorable-to-unfavorable is 38 percent to 35 percent. Mr. Owens is 33-24 and Mr. Hoffman is 27-19.
• The majority of respondents, 52 percent, said they favor a public option that would compete with private health insurance plans. Forty-two percent were opposed.
• A majority, 53 percent, also said they oppose allowing same-sex couples to marry.
• Slightly more people, 31 percent, believe that abortion to be legal in all instances than believe it should be illegal in all instances, 27 percent.

Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas has previously backed Ms. Scozzafava, which gave Mr. Hoffman a lot of ammunition to rally his base.