More New Yorkers want Gov. Andrew Cuomo to leave office, but most don't want that to happen immediately, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.
In a poll released Thursday of 905 self-identified registered voters in New York who had been surveyed on Tuesday and Wednesday, 43% of respondents said Cuomo should resign, but 49% said he should not.
Two weeks ago, a similar Quinnipiac poll showed 40% wanted Cuomo out and 55% wanted him to stay.
The current poll also showed:
- 23% of the governor's fellow Democrats said he should resign; 67% said he should stay.
- 36% of respondents said Cuomo should be impeached; 54% said he should not.
Meanwhile, many of the people who think Cuomo should leave office said they don't think it should happen immediately. They were asked if they agreed more with elected officials calling on the governor to resign immediately, or if they agreed with officials who say they will wait until an investigation is completed by State Attorney General Letitia James:
- 22% of respondents sided with officials who want Cuomo to leave immediately.
- 74% agreed with officials who said they will wait for the investigation.
- Among Democrats, 10% said they want Cuomo out now, and 88% said they want to wait for the investigation.
"Though some of his fellow Democrats are clearly ready to usher him out the door of the Executive Mansion and point him toward the Thruway, the vast majority of the party sees the next step as necessary. They want a full investigation before deciding whether Cuomo should resign," Quinnipiac Polling Analyst Tim Malloy said.
Meanwhile, Cuomo's approval rating is continuing to drop while he faces growing accusations of sexual harassment and about his actions concerning nursing homes and the COVID-19 pandemic. The poll showed that 39% of respondents approve of the job he is doing, but 48% do not, marking the lowest job approval for the governor in a Quinnipiac poll since 2011 when he took office.
In addition, 33% of respondents said they view him favorably, with 51% saying they do not, showing his lowest favorability numbers since the university started tracking them in 2008 when he was still the attorney general of New York.
Meanwhile, the poll showed that only 25% of voters overall want him to run for reelection in 2022, and only 35% of Democrats want him to run again.
The poll did show some positive numbers for Cuomo, with 49% of voters saying they think Cuomo "cares about the needs and problems of people like you.”
In addition, 54% of respondents said they agree with his handling of the pandemic, compared to 41% who did not, and 61% of respondents said they think Cuomo has "strong leadership qualities."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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