New York – Experts Say Sen. Schumer Will Win Reelection Despite Slipping Polls

New York – This has not been an easy winter for Sen. Chuck Schumer, a politician who crafts his public image as obsessively as Michelangelo did the Sistine Chapel.

His job approval rating shows signs of slipping as anti-incumbent fervor sweeps the land, one recent Marist Poll found.

Old friends on Wall Street fear he has gone populist on them.

And still others in the political class whine that Schumer now cares more about his standing nationally in Washington – where some believe he could be the first Senate majority leader from New York – than the folks back home.

The grumbling broke out into the open over Schumer’s brokering of the now dead Senate health care bill, which would have socked the city and the state with $1 billion in extra health costs.

“He has become a more national figure, a more Washington-type,” Marist pollster Lee Miringoff said of the general perception. “And that has run counter to the current, anti-incumbent environment.”

It all makes for good chatter as Schumer faces reelection in the fall to what would be his third term, at a time when nothing is certain for Democrats.

But here’s the reality: Schumer will win again, almost as surely as day follows night, experts predict.

It’s not just that Schumer is a relentless campaigner. He also has a whopping $19 million in campaign cash on hand – tops among senators.

At the same time, whatever resources the New York GOP has are focused on unseating junior Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who many see as way more vulnerable.

So far, the best the GOP has been able to muster against Schumer is an uncertain effort to draft Larry Kudlow, the conservative CNBC commentator and economist who has admitted to tax and addiction problems in his past.

“I am not even sure that Larry Kudlow could win a straw poll on the set of CNBC,” said Rep. Anthony Weiner, a Schumer fan.

Despite Schumer’s many advantages, the famously frenetic lawmaker is taking nothing for granted. He is maintaining his usual 100-mile-per-hour schedule, steering job creation legislation through the Senate and forcefully telling the White House to get the 9/11 terror trials out of New York.

Schumer disputes the recent Marist poll, pointing to another Quinnipiac survey showing his popularity has remained basically steady.

“You can’t rely on polls,” Schumer told The News. “I work hard to deliver for New Yorkers whether it’s an election year or not.”

Many banking bigwigs complain Schumer has not been standing up to the Wall Street “bashing” that they feel coming from the White House. `They even expressed their displeasure to Schumer’s face during a meeting last November at the business-centric Partnership for New York City.

Schumer did not back down.

“Chuck was like, ‘Wake up and smell the roses,'” said one witness. “He was very straightforward about how unpopular they are, and how even more unpopular are the public officials who come out and defend them.”

More recently, Schumer has spent private time trying to assure financial leaders that – to the extent their interests and New York’s are the same – he will have Wall Street’s back.

“The financial industry did many things wrong that helped cause the economic crisis,” Schumer told The News. “And my job now is to help fix them in a way that is corrective, not vindictive.”

Upstate, Democratic leaders say Schumer doesn’t need an election-year makeover.

“Chuck is in the county more than I am, and I live here,” joked Len Lenihan, chairman of the Erie County Democratic Committee, an area that includes Buffalo. “He has set the standard.”