Cuomo Favorability/Job Performance Ratings Fall from January
NYers Have Strong Level of Trust for Supreme Court, FBI, Mueller;
Little Trust for Trump; More for Congressional Dems than Reps
70% Say Mueller Investigation Is Being Conducted by Non-Partisan Pros
And Should Continue Without White House/Congressional Interference
Strong Support for Child Victims Act, Early Voting, Dream Act & Roe v Wade; A Small Majority Supports Legalizing Recreational Use of Marijuana
Loudonville, NY. After a bounce in January, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s favorability, job performance and
re-elect ratings all fell by double digits this month, according to a new Siena College poll of New York State registered voters. Cuomo’s favorability rating is 53-40 percent, down from 62-30 percent last month, and his job performance rating is negative 45-53 percent, down from positive 50-48 percent.
The Supreme Court and the FBI are overwhelmingly trusted by Democrats, Republicans and independents. Special counsel Robert Mueller is strongly trusted by Democrats and independents and breaks even with Republicans. Democrats trust Democrats in Congress and Republicans trust Congressional Republicans. While Republicans strongly trust President Trump, independents do not, and Democrats do not even more.
More than two-thirds of voters are paying at least some attention to the Mueller investigation – 35 percent a
great deal of attention – and 70 percent of New Yorkers say the investigation should continue without interference from the White House or Congress, compared to 24 percent who say they believe President Trump about Russian collusion and the investigation should be quickly brought to a close.
“After hitting his second-term high favorability rating last month, Governor Cuomo’s favorability, job performance and re-elect ratings all hit significant speed bumps this month. With his favorable rating down to
53 percent from 62 percent and his unfavorable rating jumping to 40 percent from 30 percent, Cuomo’s net favorability rating is down 19 points,” said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg. “He’s down with Democrats, more with Republicans, and even more with independents.
“In all three measures, Cuomo is down with voters in New York City, down big upstate and essentially unchanged in the downstate suburbs. The drop was much bigger with men than with women,” Greenberg said.
“Cuomo’s drop this month comes as there was little change in how voters viewed the Legislature, just a modest drop in voters’ optimism about the direction of the state and, largely, continued strong support for many of the Governor’s high-profile proposals,” Greenberg said. “Of course, much of what Cuomo has been talking about over the last several weeks has been overshadowed by the ongoing coverage of the Federal corruption trial in Manhattan, in which the Governor has been featured prominently.
“The good news for Cuomo is that the two Republicans still seeking to run against him are both unknown to more than three-quarters of New York voters,” Greenberg said. “State Senator John DeFrancisco is viewed favorably by 10 percent and unfavorably by nine percent. Former Erie County Executive Joel Giambra has a comparable
7-9 percent favorability rating. Both have a lot of work to do to become known to voters over the next eight months.
Supreme Court, FBI, Mueller Strongly Trusted by NYers; Pols Not Nearly as Much
“Democrats, Republicans and independents all agree – as do voters from every region of the state: the Supreme Court and the FBI are both highly trustworthy. Democrats and independents feel similarly about Mueller, although Republicans are closely divided on their view of his trustworthiness,” Greenberg said.
“When it comes to the pols, independents lean toward not trusting Democrats in Congress and they are much less trusting of the Republicans in Congress. Republicans trust Congressional Republicans but not Democrats. Not surprisingly, Democrats feel the same in reverse. Trump is strongly distrusted by independents and Democrats have virtually no trust in Trump. Republicans place a high level of trust in the President,” Greenberg said.
New York Voters: Mueller Probe Should Continue Without Interference
“Two-thirds of independents and 84 percent of Democrats say the Mueller investigation should continue unimpeded, while Republicans are closely divided, with a small plurality, 47 percent, saying they believe the President when he says there was no collusion and the investigation should be quickly brought to a close,” Greenberg said. “New Yorkers are paying attention to the news about the Mueller investigation and a broad consensus – at least 63 percent of voters regardless of region, gender, age, race, religion, or income – says the investigation should be allowed to continue without interference.”
* Trustworthy Score: Designed to consider the intensity of sentiment, not just the positive or negative assessment of the respondents. If 100 percent of respondents indicated ‘completely trustworthy,’ the score would be 100. If 100 percent indicated ‘not at all trustworthy,’ the score would be 0. A score of 50 indicates the collective assessment of trustworthiness of that institution/person is halfway between ‘not very’ and ‘somewhat’ trustworthy. Scores above 50 show positive trustworthiness; scores below 50 show negative trustworthiness.
Support Remains Strong for Several Cuomo 2018 Priorities
“New Yorkers of every stripe continue to overwhelmingly support the Child Victims Act and strongly support prohibiting public money for settling sexual harassment cases involving government employees. Democrats, independents and voters from every region also continue to strongly support early voting and codifying Roe vs. Wade. Republicans are equally divided on early voting and a plurality supports codifying Roe vs. Wade,” Greenberg said. “The Dream Act gets strong support from Democrats, independents and New York City voters.
“With strong support from Democrats and independents, and support from every region, by a 56-40 percent margin, New Yorkers support legalizing the recreational use of marijuana,” Greenberg said. “Voters 55 and older are closely divided, while three-quarters of voters under 35 support legalization.”
Voters Trust Albany More than DC on Tax Policy; Less Negative Toward Federal Tax Cut Law
“Voters, by a 52-22 percent margin, trust state government more than the Federal government to create tax policy that treats them fairly. A majority of independents and two-thirds of Democrats feel that way, while a plurality of Republicans trusts Washington over Albany,” Greenberg said.
“By a 12-point margin – down from 19 points last month – voters say the new Federal tax law will worsen New York’s economy, and by an 8-point margin – down from 18 points – they will be worse off financially because of the new Federal tax law,” Greenberg said. “Additionally, support for the Governor’s proposal to sue the Federal government over the tax law has withered, with only 49 percent supporting it, down from 58 percent last month.”
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This Siena College Poll was conducted February 5-8, 2018 by telephone calls conducted in English to 823 New York State registered voters. Respondent sampling was initiated by asking for the youngest male in the household. It has an overall margin of error of +/- 3.9 percentage points including the design effects resulting from weighting. Sampling was conducted via a stratified dual frame probability sample of landline and cell phone telephone numbers (both from Survey Sampling International) from within New York State weighted to reflect known population patterns. Data was statistically adjusted by age, party by region, and gender to ensure representativeness. The Siena College Research Institute, directed by Donald Levy, Ph.D., conducts political, economic, social and cultural research primarily in NYS. SCRI, an independent, non-partisan research institute, subscribes to the American Association of Public Opinion Research Code of Professional Ethics and Practices. For more information, call Steve Greenberg at (518) 469-9858. For survey cross-tabs: www.Siena.edu/SCRI/SNY.
