Cuomo suffers drop in favorability, job performance and re-elect ratings

After a bounce in January, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s favorability, job performance and re-elect ratings all fell by double digits this month, according to a new Siena College poll of New York State registered voters.

Cuomo’s favorability rating is now 53-to-40 percent, down from 62-to-30 percent last month, and his job performance rating is negative 45-to-53 percent, down from positive 50-to-48 percent last month.

“After hitting his second-term high favorability rating last month, Governor Cuomo’s favorability, job performance and re-elect ratings all hit significant speed bumps this month. With his favorable rating down to 53 percent from 62 percent, and his unfavorable rating jumping to 40 percent from 30 percent, Cuomo’s net favorability rating is down 19 points,” said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg. “He’s down with Democrats, more with Republicans, and even more with independents.

“In all three measures, Cuomo is down with voters in New York City, down big upstate and essentially unchanged in the downstate suburbs. The drop was much bigger with men than with women,” Greenberg said.

“Cuomo’s drop this month comes as there was little change in how voters viewed the Legislature, just a modest drop in voters’ optimism about the direction of the state and, largely, continued strong support for many of the governor’s high-profile proposals,” Greenberg said. “Of course, much of what Cuomo has been talking about over the last several weeks has been overshadowed by the ongoing coverage of the federal corruption trial in Manhattan, in which the governor has been featured prominently.”

A former aid to Governor Cuomo — Joseph Percoco — is currently on trial in New York City for allegedly accepting bribes by companies looking to do business with the state. The federal corruption trial, which started in late January, has put Albany’s “pay-to-play” culture in the public spotlight.

“The good news for Cuomo is that the two Republicans still seeking to run against him are both unknown to more than three-quarters of New York voters,” Greenberg said. “State Senator John DeFrancisco is viewed favorably by 10 percent and unfavorably by 9 percent. Former Erie County Executive Joel Giambra has a comparable 7-to-9 percent favorability rating. Both have a lot of work to do to become known to voters over the next eight months.

This Siena College Poll was conducted February 5-8, 2018 by telephone calls conducted in English to 823 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 3.9 percentage points including the design effects resulting from weighting.

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