Many New Yorkers think Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo is part of the corruption problem in state politics — yet still support his re-election, says a
Quinnipiac University poll.
Voters said they were twice as likely to vote for Cuomo as for his challenger, Republican Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, by a margin of 56 percent to 28 percent, according to the poll. At the same time, 83 percent said government corruption in New York state was a problem and 48 percent said Cuomo was part of it.
"Is the governor's race all over? Did it ever start? Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino gets only the standard Republican numbers. Voters give Gov. Cuomo a big lead and say he deserves re-election," said Maurice Carroll, assistant director of the poll.
"As they have in the past, voters say government corruption is a big New York problem," Carroll said. "How is Gov. Andrew Cuomo doing in handling ethics problems? Not too hot, voters say. "
The results are little changed from a May 21 poll in which Cuomo held a 57 percent to 28 percent lead over Astorino, indicating that Cuomo's actions in closing down the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption probe had little effect on his standing with the electorate.
Cuomo's action triggered an independent
federal investigation by U.S. Attorney Preet Bahrara into whether the Cuomo administration improperly interfered with the commission.
New Yorkers approved of the job Cuomo is doing by 57 percent to 38 percent, and 56 percent said he deserves re-election, according to Quinnipiac.
A Siena Poll found that Cuomo's lead over Astorino dropped only 5 percentage points, to 32 points, because of the Moreland Commission investigation, the
New York Daily News reported.
"Despite several weeks of bad press and the inability to control the federal prosecutor's investigation, for the moment . . . Cuomo remains in electoral control of the election. Astorino has yet to be able to gain traction with voters for either himself or his arguments against Cuomo," Siena pollster Steven Greenberg told the Daily News.
Astorino is not getting his message across, with 51 percent of voters saying they don't know enough about him to form an opinion, according to the Quinnipiac poll.
In even worse shape than Astorino are Cuomo's other challengers, primary contender law professor Zephyr Teachout and Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins. About 88 percent of voters said they knew little or nothing about Teachout, and 89 percent said the same about Hawkins.
The poll was conducted among 1,034 New York state voters Aug. 14-17 and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
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