New York voters are giving a thumbs up to most of what was approved during the legislative session, but are giving a thumbs down to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
A Siena College poll released Tuesday morning found the governor’s favorability rating drop to its lowest ever in the poll, 43 percent to 50 percent. It’s a swing from June, when Cuomo’s favorability rating stood at a positive 52 percent to 42 percent.
Cuomo’s job approval is also at its lowest rating ever in the poll, falling to a 34 percent to 64 percent split.
And yet, voters largely approved of the menu of legislation lawmakers and Cuomo backed at the end of the legislative session in June. New York voters support an end to the religious exemption for vaccinations 84 percent to 14 percent, a law expanding labor rights for farmworkers 78 percent to 15 percent, new requirements for lowering carbon emissions 73 percent to 19 percent, as well as a ban on the use of the gay and trans panic defense 58 percent to 33 percent.
The one exception: New York voters continued to oppose a new law that would allow undocumented immigrants to apply for driver’s licenses. The poll found 53 percent of voters oppose the measure, including 55 percent of independent voters. Forty-three percent back the measure, which is being challenged in federal court by two county clerks.
A majority of New Yorkers, 51 percent to 39 percent, believe Cuomo has over the last nine years he’s been in office, made the state a better place to live.
And yet his numbers with voters have suffered in recent weeks. Voters are split on whether New York is on the right track, with 45 percent saying it is and 44 percent say it is not.
Thirty-six percent of independent voters have a favorable view of the governor, who was re-elected last year to a third term. More than half of suburban voters, 54 percent, hold an unfavorable view as well.
The drop in his numbers is especially stark in the last 12 months. In July last year, when Cuomo was in the middle of a re-election campaign and primary challenge, he held a 67 percent favorable rating — a period marked by the governor’s campaign spending heavily on TV and digital ads promoting his re-election.
His numbers since then with his core voters — union households, black voters and suburban voters — have all fallen. Only 39 percent of suburban voters hold a favorable view of him, down from 79 percent a year ago.
Labor households, which held a favorable view of the governor by a 63 percent to 34 percent margin, are now underwater: Only 43 percent of union households hold a favorable view in the new poll.
Among Cuomo’s fellow statewide Democrats, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has a favorable rating of 53 percent to 39 percent and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a presidential candidate, holds a 41 percent favorable rating, with 36 percent holding an unfavorable view.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, is viewed favorably by only 26 percent of voters and only 37 percent of New York City voters.
The poll of 810 registered voters was conducted from July 28 to Aug. 1 and has a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.