D'Esposito and Gillen in a dead heat in the 4th Congressional District race

The contentious race between Republican Rep. Anthony D'Esposito and Democrat Laura Gillen appears to be much closer than previously thought in New York's 4th Congressional District, a new poll shows.

The Gotham Polling & Analytics poll shows the two in a clear dead heat, with the Republican freshman at 46% of likely voters and his Democratic rival at 45%.

The race for the swing seat has been viewed by pundits as a “switch” for weeks as Democrats seek to retake the House seat until a recent poll gave Gillen a strong lead.

The Gotham poll, shared exclusively with The Post, surveyed 734 voters who said their top issues were inflation and the economy, as well as immigration.

Female voters also named abortion as one of their top issues.

In the survey, conducted via text message between Oct. 11 and Oct. 19, about 6% of respondents remained undecided.

D'Esposito won the seat two years ago in the same game against Gillen by a margin of 3.6 percentage points.

However, the GOPer came under fire after it was revealed that he had hired a mistress to work in his Garden City district office.

Earlier this week, a Newsday/Siena College poll showed Gillen with a whopping 12-point lead over D'Esposito.

A poll that Democrats conducted with Jay Jacobs, the Nassau County Democratic leader and state party chairman, found it reflected the local sentiment.

“Laura Gillen will win hands down,” Jacobs said earlier this week.

However, internally D'Esposito had a 3 point lead over Gillen.