The recent spate of legislative scandals in Albany appear to be taking a toll on Governor Cuomo. A new poll from Siena College find Cuomo's ratings among registered voters are at their lowest level since he took office.The poll, released Monday, find Cuomo's favorability rating is down to 58 percent. That is down six points from May and a significant drop from the 72 percent rating he registered in December.
While his job performance rating is fairly steady, an increasing number of registered voters told Siena they would prefer to elect someone else in 2014: 41 percent this month, compared with 36 percent last month.
Siena pollster Steve Greenberg says since last winter, the governor's numbers have seen a steady decline.
"We have seen, over the last six months, his favorability, his job performance rating, and the generic re-elect question, all slipping over the last six months, largely with Republicans, largely with upstate voters, but a little bit across the board. In fact, his fall this month is more attributable to Democrats than it is to Republicans or Independents," Greenberg says.
Cuomo's favorability rating is down 8 percentage points with Democrats this month. Greenberg says he has a theory about why Cuomo's numbers are at a low point.
"A lot of attention over the last month has been on the issue of the Vito Lopez resignation, the JCOPE report, [and] the way that's affected the Assembly speaker. I think that plays on how people look at the governor, as well, since he, in essence, is in charge of Albany. He is the top elected official," Greenberg says.
Despite the drops, Greenberg says overall, the governor is still doing well with the voters of the state.
"He's doing very well, in fact. I would say he's down from excellent," he told WBFO Albany correspondent Karen Dewitt.
By a wide margin, voters told Siena addressing corruption should be the top priority for the governor and state lawmakers before the end of the legislative session.
