The race for the 11th Congressional District, covering Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn, is New York City’s only swing seat in Congress.

An exclusive Spectrum News/Siena College Poll showed that Rep. Nicole Malliotakis holds a 6 percentage point lead over her rival Max Rose. 

Steven Greenberg, a Siena College pollster, joined Bobby Cuza on “Inside City Hall” Thursday to the closely-watched race and poll.

“It’s a six point lead, but in a certain way, it feels a little bit bigger than that or should I say maybe it can feel quite as tight as a six point race simply because Malliotakis is viewed more favourably than Rose,” he said. “And this is not your classic congressional matchup where you have either an open seat with two relatively unknown candidates or a challenger against an incumbent.”

According to Greenberg, generally Democrats do better in presidential years while Republicans tend to do better in gubernatorial elections in New York, “but this seat has gone against the grain,” he added.