In the middle of the of fall of 2019, voters held a middling view of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as a Siena College poll at the time showed 48% of voters held a favorable view of him; 46% did not.

At this time a year ago, Cuomo was basking in enviable numbers rare for an elected official who has been in office for a decade. The same polling showed 65% of voters polled held a favorable opinion of him, including 44% of Republican voters. His numbers have since come back down to pre-pandemic levels after months of being battered by controversy and allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct. 

The poll from Siena College on Thursday shows Cuomo is back virtually to his 2019 numbers: 45% of voters hold a favorable view of him and 47% of those voters polled do not, virtually the same from a year and a half ago. 

Context to the current numbers, however, is key. Cuomo now faces an uncertain future in elected office, with so much hinging on forces seemingly out of his control, including the investigation by Attorney General Letitia James's office into those harassment allegations, as well as a federal probe into how his administration counted and reported the deaths of nursing home residents. 

After so many shoes dropped in the period of a few short weeks, it's not yet clear which direction things will take next for the governor as he has made every indication of seeking a fourth term in 2022. 

"Forget about all those investigations," Siena College pollster Steve Greenberg said. "Things that we haven't even contemplated that are going to happen between now and next year can affect the dynamics of this race." 

Cuomo this week held a fundraiser with prominent labor and business leaders in New York, longtime allies of his who have not abandoned him, much less called for his resignation. The fundraising base seemingly remains, though the public will learn more when Cuomo's mid-year campaign finance report is due to be released in about two weeks. 

Also, Cuomo's base remains intact. His office, in a statement released by Rich Azzopardi, pointed to the meager 13% of Democratic voters who want Cuomo to resign, putting figures like U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and others at odds with the vast majority of Democrats in the state. 

The statement also hinted, without going into detail, that Cuomo has more to say, presumably about the harassment and misconduct claims made against him.  

"Today's Siena poll is surprisingly positive because New Yorkers have only heard one side of the story and haven't yet heard the truth," Azzopardi's statement said. "When they hear the true story and the political games people are playing it will be much different."

Republicans this week sought to coalesce around Rep. Lee Zeldin in the race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. Zeldin has the backing of the vast majority of Republican county chairs, though that did little to help Rick Lazio in 2014 or Bill Weld in 2006. Rivals Rob Astorino and Andrew Giuliani have given no indication they'll drop their bids. 

Democrats hold all levels of power in Albany and statewide. Republicans haven't won a statewide vote since 2002. And yet the party hopes a combination of crime and Cuomo fatigue can help put them over the top this year, regardless of the enrollment disparity. 

And 56% of voters in Thursday's poll, when asked if they prefer re-electing Cuomo or a generic "someone else," picked the latter. But, as the saying goes in politics, you can't beat someone with no one. 

"There's no 'someone else,' " Greenberg said. "It's Andrew Cuomo and another name or, you know, several other names."