New York residents have the most confidence in Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who easily outpaces Mayor Bill de Blasio — 4 to 1, in fact — as the state's "more influential Democrat," according to a
Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday.
Cuomo leads de Blasio by a huge margin, 74 percent to 16 percent, among statewide voters, and by 67 percent to 25 percent among those who live within the city, the pollsters said, adding that the mayor remains under fire for remarks he has made about police and race relations, and after the recent shooting deaths of two NYPD officers.
"Who's the more influential Democrat? Overwhelmingly, New Yorkers pick Gov. Andrew Cuomo over New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Even Big Apple voters say the governor has a bigger bite," Quinnipiac's assistant polling director Maurice Carroll said in a news release.
"Mayor de Blasio is trying hard to be known as a national — even international — spokesman for political liberalism but, so far at least, it's not working with the neighbors. New Yorkers pay more attention to Gov. Cuomo," Carroll said.
"Because Republicans give a big thumbs down to either Democrat, neither Cuomo nor de Blasio win the hearts and minds of most New Yorkers," he added.
Regionally, Cuomo enjoys similar support with upstate voters, who say they prefer him over De Blasio by 77 percent to 9 percent. And suburban voters choose Cuomo 81 percent to 11 percent, Quinnipiac noted.
De Blasio seems to connect more with younger voters — those age 18-29 — but Cuomo remains on top with this age group by a margin of 56-32 percent, the pollsters said.
About 52 percent of statewide voters give Cuomo a favorable rating, while 33 percent view him as unfavorable. De Blasio is seen as favorable by about a third of state voters, at 33 percent, while about another third, 36 percent, view him as unfavorable.
Some 29 percent, however, said they didn't know enough about de Blasio to register a vote.
De Blasio has waged a media campaign over the past couple of days, urging calm. Public outrage was sparked by the brazen weekend shooting death of two police officers by a lone assassin as they sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn.
After Eric Garner, a Staten Island black man, died following an arrest in which he was held by a white police officer in a chokehold, the mayor ruffled feathers when he spoke of his worries for his biracial son in dealings with the police. City officers turned their backs to the mayor during a press conference Saturday shortly after the shooting deaths.
De Blasio, who has since been urged to resign and apologize, also angered many when he failed to immediately visit the homes of the officers' families after attending a Mass on Sunday at St. Patrick's Cathedral, the
New York Post reported.
On Monday, however, de Blasio visited both families and spoke publicly at a Police Athletic League holiday luncheon. At a second news conference, he urge balance and asked city residents to consider the families who were grieving, and to save their protests and politicization of issues with the police for later,
The New York Times said.
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