Roughly half of New York voters support Cuomo: poll

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has the support of about half the polled voters in his state as he faces an inquiry by the state Attorney General over his alleged unwanted sexual advances toward former aides and other women.

A Siena College Research Institute poll released Monday found that Cuomo remaining on the job is supported by 49 percent of respondents, a drop of two percentage points from his level of support in the same poll conducted in April.

While voters are split over whether he should resign, a majority agree that he should not stand for reelection in the upcoming New York gubernatorial election, set to take place next year.

Fifty-three percent of voters said in the poll that they would prefer a different candidate win the 2022 election, while 37 percent said they still planned to vote for Cuomo should he run again.

Cuomo has faced calls for his impeachment or resignation from both Republicans and some members of his own party after multiple women accused him of touching them inappropriately or making unwanted sexual advances. He has denied touching the women inappropriately while acknowledging that he may have made comments over the years that made some uncomfortable.

Siena’s previous poll, released in April, found 51 percent of voters calling for Cuomo to stay while 37 percent said at the time that he should leave office immediately. That number is four points higher, 41 percent, in the most recent poll.

Independents are split on the issue, 45 percent say he should resign, while Democrats and Republicans are more diametrically opposed.

“Democrats continue to say Cuomo should not resign by a two-to-one margin, as Republicans say he should resign by a now larger than two-to-one margin,” Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said in a statement. “Last month a plurality of independents said he should not resign; now independents are evenly divided on that question, even while giving Cuomo strongly negative favorability, job performance and re-elect ratings.”

The Siena poll included responses from 793 voters registered in New York state taken between May 16-20. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.