Siena Poll: Cuomo’s favorability lowest its ever been, majority of voters say he should not resign

LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. (WROC) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s favorability, job performance and re-elect ratings all continue to head in a downward trend, as his favorability rating is now negative 40-52%, down from 43-45% in March and 56-39% in February.

At the same time, a majority of New Yorkers continue to say both that he should not resign, 51-37% (50-35% in April), and that he can effectively do his job as governor, 52-38% (48-34% in March).

Voters approve of Cuomo’s handling of the pandemic, 60-32%, virtually unchanged from 60-33% last month. By a 44-22% margin, voters think Cuomo has committed sexual harassment, with 34% undecided. Last month, a plurality, 41%, were undecided, with voters thinking he had 35-24%.

"Voters to Andrew Cuomo: 'We’ve got some good news and some bad news.’ On the one hand, his favorability rating is now the lowest it has ever been, with more than 50% of voters viewing Cuomo
unfavorably for the very first time in a Siena College poll," Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said in a statement.

"On the other hand, a majority of voters — including Democrats by two-to-one and a plurality of independents — continue to say that Cuomo should not resign, and a similar majority say he can still effectively do his job as governor."

Cuomo’s job performance rating is negative 42-56%, down from 46-52% in March and 51-47% in February. Right now, 33% are prepared to re-elect Cuomo next year if he runs, compared to 57% who prefer ‘someone else,’ down from 34-52% in March and 46-45% in February.

Greenberg added:

"While the erosion in Cuomo’s favorability, job performance and re-elect ratings was not as large in April — falling between six and 10 points, as it was in March, falling between 10 and 19 points — his ratings continue to push further into negative territory.

Interestingly, since February, on all three measures, there was virtually no movement among Republicans, who already had Cuomo at very low levels. There was significant downward movement by independents and the largest drop was among Democrats.

In February, Democrats were prepared to re-elect Cuomo 65-26% . Today, Democrats say they would re-elect Cuomo next year by the narrowest of margins, 46-43%,” Greenberg said. “At the same time, by a margin of 85-7%, Democrats say they want to see a Democrat win in next year’s gubernatorial election, as do all voters by a 52-32% margin.

Cuomo’s favorability rating among Democrats today, 56-37% , is down significantly from 78-18% in February. That said, Democrats continue to overwhelmingly approve of the job Cuomo is doing to the pandemic, 78-16%, little changed from 83-12% approval in February.

Democrats also still give Cuomo strong grades on four aspects of his handling of the pandemic:

- vaccine rollout
- reopening plans
- communicating with New Yorkers
- providing accurate information

Democrats join Republicans and independents in giving Cuomo negative grades for his handling of making nursing home patient death data public."

Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg

New Yorkers Divided on Budget; Support to Overwhelming Support for Three Headline Issues

When asked whether the state budget and new laws that were recently passed would, overall, be good or bad for New Yorkers like them, 38% said they will be good and 36% said bad. By a margin of 72-20%, voters approve of increasing tax rates on millionaires. They approve of legalizing the recreational use of marijuana 57-36%. And they approve of the $2.1 billion in assistance to workers, including undocumented immigrants, who lost employment during the pandemic but were ineligible for federal aid.

"Collectively, New Yorkers are divided when it comes to whether the recently concluded budget process will be good or bad for people like them. Democrats overwhelmingly think the budget will be good for New Yorkers like them while Republicans even more overwhelmingly think it will be bad, and independents agree with Republicans that the budget will be bad for New Yorkers like them, two-to-one,” Greenberg said.

"Some of the specific proposals passed enjoy widespread support. Raising the tax on millionaires has support from 86% of Democrats and 68%of independents. Even Republicans support it 47-40%.

"Despite Republican opposition to legalizing marijuana, Democrats and independents strongly support it. The new ‘excluded workers fund’ included in the budget has 71%support from Democrats, 68% opposition from Republicans, while independents are closely divided, supporting it 48-45%.”