Raising taxes worse than hiring a prostitute?

A new NY Times poll holds some bad news for NY Gov. David Paterson (D): He’s now less popular than Eliot Spitzer.

21% of voters have a favorable view of Paterson, compared to 26% who said the same about Spitzer.

What has Paterson done wrong? 17% said he fared worst on taxes, followed by 6% who cited the parallel issue of the state’s budget. Paterson pushed for a big tax increase earlier this year to help close the state budget deficit.

6% said the worse thing Paterson’s done was appointing Kirsten Gillibrand to the Senate, followed by 5% who cited his support for gay marriage. More voters, however, cited his support for gay marriage as a positive.

More from NYT:

With 17 months until he is up for election, Mr. Paterson may have time to repair his image. But in follow-up interviews, those surveyed seemed to rue having given him the benefit of the doubt a year ago. And voters appeared to be souring on Mr. Paterson personally, with 50 percent viewing him unfavorably, five times as many as a year ago.