Even as his favorability rating plunges to all-time lows, and the percentage of those who believe he committed sexual harassment grows, a growing majority of New Yorkers still believe Gov. Andrew Cuomo should not resign, a new poll released Monday found.
Some 51 percent of voters oppose Cuomo's resignation, and 52 percent believe he can still govern effectively, the new Siena College poll found. Both are up slightly from the school's March poll.
That comes despite a federal investigation into the state’s handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes, a special attorney general’s investigation into allegations of sexual harassment, and an assembly impeachment probe covering those issues and multiple others.
“Voters to Andrew Cuomo: ‘we’ve got some good news and some bad news,'" Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said in a statement.
Cuomo's favorability rating fell to 40 percent in the new poll, while his unfavorability rating hit 52 percent -- the first time it has ever crossed into a majority in Siena's polling of him. There was a sharp jump in those who believe the governor did commit sexual harassment, at 44 percent -- up nine points from March.
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The governor addressed the poll Monday when questioned by reporters following a coronavirus-related briefing.
"I don't know how people can say 'I think you're doing a good job,' but the favorable goes down. They do these polls all the time. The truth is I don't put too much stock in them," Cuomo said to reporters. "I'm going to focus on my job, that's what I've always done."
The embattled third-term governor is steadfast in his refusal to step down, despite calls to do so from the overwhelming majority of his fellow elected New York Democrats. He has instead placed his faith in the voters, rebuffing all opposition from even nominal allies.
The question remains whether he will still seek a fourth term next year, as he originally intended. Siena found limited and shrinking support for that; only 33 percent said they would be prepared to re-elect him next year if he runs. That's down 13 points from two months ago.
Across demographics - gender, political leaning, union affiliation, geographic region, ethnicity, age, religion, income - virtually every group says they would "prefer someone else" over a Cuomo re-election. The one group where a majority still favors a fourth term is Black voters, at 51 percent (down eight points from March and 11 points from February).
The poll of 801 registered NY voters was conducted April 11-15 and has a margin of error of 4.3 percentage points.
