On 6 of 8 specific issues, governor gets negative job performance rating

Voters haven’t heard about ConCon – but they support it nonetheless

Gov. Andrew Cuomo saw a dramatic rise in his ratings this month, as his favorability rating hits its highest level since June 2014, according to a new Siena College poll of New York State registered voters released Wednesday.

Cuomo has a 61-to-31 percent favorability rating, up from 54-to-37 percent last month. Currently, 53 percent of voters say they are prepared to re-elect him governor, compared to 36 percent who prefer “someone else.” The number of voters backing his re-election is up from 51 percent last month; his best re-elect number in the 2018 gubernatorial cycle.

Overall, Cuomo has a positive 51-to-46 percent job performance rating, up from a negative 47-to-51 percent job performance rating last month.

However, on eight specific issues, voters only give him a positive job performance rating on two — higher education and human rights — while they give him negative ratings on six issues, including five — taxes, infrastructure, K-12 education, criminal justice, and the economy — where a majority say he’s doing only a “fair” or “poor” job.

“Voters now view Andrew Cuomo more favorably, 61-to-31 percent, than they have in three years, since June 2014, when he had a 63-to-31 percent favorability rating,” said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg. “He is viewed favorably by nearly three-quarters of Democrats, 58 percent of independents, nearly two-thirds of downstaters and more than half of upstaters. The dramatic net 13-point increase in his favorability rating was largely provided by independent and upstate voters.

“By a 17-point margin, up from 12 points last month, voters say they are prepared to re-elect Cuomo if he runs again in 2018, the largest margin it’s been in the 2018 gubernatorial cycle. Independent, downstate and white voters provided the jump in Cuomo’s re-elect margin,” Greenberg said.

“Cuomo’s overall job performance rating is now positive for only the second time in nearly three years, since July 2014. His job performance rating is up net nine points since last month, with the largest increases coming from independent, downstate suburban and younger voters,” Greenberg said.

“While voters view Cuomo’s job performance positively overall, they give him ‘under water’ ratings on six issues and only think he’s doing an ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ job on higher education and human rights issues, the only two issues on which independent voters give him a positive rating,” Greenberg said. “Even Democrats give him a negative job performance rating on four of the issues: K-12 education, taxes, infrastructure, and criminal justice issues. Voters who view Cuomo unfavorably rate him negatively on every issue, while those who view him favorably, give Cuomo a positive job performance rating on every issue other than taxes.”

Meanwhile by nearly three-to-one, voters support a constitutional convention even though two-thirds of state voters have heard nothing about it.

“Two-thirds of New Yorkers have heard ‘nothing at all’ about the November vote on a state constitutional convention, and only 13 percent have heard a great deal or some about it. More than 70 percent of downstaters have heard nothing at all, while the same is true of 58 percent of upstaters,” Greenberg said.

Voters will be asked via a ballot question on November 7 if they want to hold a constitutional convention. State law requires that the people have an opportunity to hold one every 20 years. The last time voters approved one was in 1965, with the convention being held in 1967.

“Yet, by a 62-to-22 percent margin, voters support ConCon, including two-thirds of Democrats, 55 percent of Republicans and 59 percent of independents. At least 60 percent of voters from every region support ConCon,” Greenberg said. “Support for ConCon has remained consistently strong over the last couple of years. But the question remains, will that support stay strong as voters hear more about ConCon, particularly as we move into the fall and various interest groups start spending money to educate voters – both in support and opposition – about ConCon? Only time will tell.”

This Siena College Poll was conducted from May 15 to 21, 2017 by telephone calls conducted in English to 770 New York State registered voters. Respondent sampling was initiated by asking for the youngest male in the household. It has an overall margin of error of 4.0 percentage points.