New York Voters Just Delivered Andrew Cuomo Some Painful News
A Thursday poll found that over 60 percent of voters surveyed believe Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo should resign or not run for re-election.
The poll from the Siena College Research Institute found that 23 percent of poll respondents said Cuomo should resign immediately and 39 percent said he should finish his term but not run for re-election.
Only 33 percent said he should finish his term and run for re-election.
“Since his poll numbers took a significant hit earlier this year, Cuomo’s favorability, job performance and re-elect ratings have remained largely stable the last few months,” Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said.
“But 16 months from the next gubernatorial election and less than a year from the primary, only one-third of New Yorkers — including just 43 percent of Democrats — think Cuomo should run for re-election.”
Voters largely approved of how the Democratic governor handled the coronavirus pandemic (51 to 32 percent), managed vaccines (66-20 percent) and oversaw the reopening of New York (54-33 percent).
However, voters said Cuomo did not do a good job addressing how he handled COVID-19 in nursing homes, one of the many controversies the Democrat has been involved in recently.
“When it comes to the pandemic, voters still largely give Cuomo strong grades, except for nursing homes,” Greenberg said.
“But when it comes to answering questions about how he handled nursing homes during the pandemic, voters say nearly three-to-one — including Democrats, 49-30 percent — Cuomo did a bad job.”
The poll was conducted from June 22-29 of 809 registered New York state voters with a margin of error of +/- 4.1 percentage points.
It was also conducted during an ongoing investigation into sexual harassment allegations made against the governor by current and former Cuomo aides. Cuomo himself has denied any wrongdoing.
“The good news for the Governor is that only 23 percent of New Yorkers want him to resign immediately,” Greenberg said.
“However, when you add those voters to the 39 percent who say he should serve out his term but not seek re-election, 62 percent say he should not run for a fourth term.”
Cuomo confirmed at a Tuesday night fundraiser that he wanted to continue in office for four more years, according to attendees, The Wall Street Journal reported.
A senior adviser to the governor, Rich Azzopardi, said the poll was “surprisingly positive because New Yorkers have only heard one side of the story and haven’t yet heard the truth.”
Nelson Rockefeller was the last New York governor to be elected for a fourth term, in 1970. Cuomo’s late father, Mario Cuomo, was the last person to try.
The poll also found that crime, education, infrastructure, economic equity and racial equality were important issues to at least half of the voters.
“When asked which issue should be the top priority of the Governor and lawmakers, crime was the winner among all voters as well as with voters of every party, region and gender,” Greenberg said.
“Racial equality was the top issue for Black voters, while education was tops with Latinos and voters under 35.”
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