Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s favorable rating is at its best since March 2018, but a majority of New Yorkers do not want him to seek a fourth term, a Siena College poll released on Monday found.
Cuomo has signaled he plans to run for a fourth term and has fundraised in recent weeks. Cuomo won a third term last year, defeating Republican Marc Molinaro.
The poll found voters by a margin of 58 percent to 37 percent oppose the idea of another Cuomo re-election campaign. Opposition is strongest among upstate and suburban voters. But in New York City, a plurality, 49 percent of voters, are supportive.
Support is also weak among Democratic voters, who narrowly backed the idea of Cuomo running again 48 percent to 45 percent, the poll found.
If Cuomo wins a fourth term, he would be one of the longest-serving governors since Nelson Rockefeller, and would surpass his father Mario Cuomo’s time in office.
Still, Cuomo’s favorability rating has recovered since April, when 47 percent gave him good marks. The poll released Monday found Cuomo with a 52 percent to 42 percent favorable rating, his highest in more than a year.
Cuomo in recent weeks has outlined a post-budget to-do list for lawmakers, which includes pledges to sign bills that would legalize marijuana and enable undocumented immigrants access to driver’s licenses. The governor, however, has publicly doubted whether Democrats in the state Senate have mustered the votes to pass either measure.
Voters in New York back marijuana legalization 55 percent to 40 percent, up slightly from a 52 percent to 42 percent in an April Siena College poll.
But the driver’s license question yields an opposite result: 41 percent of voters support the idea of issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants while 53 percent are opposed.
Self-identified moderate voters are divided on the issue, with 44 percent in support and 47 percent opposed.
New York voters by a vast margin, 84 percent to 13 percent, believe children should be required to receive vaccinations regardless of religious belief. Lawmakers are considering a measure that would end the religious exemption for vaccinations, but the measure has stalled in the Legislature.
The poll of 812 registered voters was conducted from June 2 to June 6. It has a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.