Siena poll shows Cuomo at record high job approval
Press Release, Siena College Research Institute
Photo by Mike Groll/Office of the Governor: Andrew M. Cuomo provides a coronavirus update during a news conference at Albany on March 31.
New Yorkers give Governor Andrew Cuomo record high job performance and favorability ratings, according to a new Siena College Poll of registered New York State voters released today.
His favorability rating is 77-21 percent, up from 71-23 percent last month, matching his highest ever in February 2011. His job performance rating is 71-28 percent, up from 63-35 percent last month, his best ever. By a 78-16 percent margin, voters say they trust Cuomo over President Donald Trump to make a determination about opening New York, according to the poll.
This Siena College Poll was conducted April 19-23 among 803 New York State registered voters with 508 voters contacted through a dual frame (landline and cell phone) mode and 295 responses drawn from a proprietary online panel (Lucid) of New Yorkers.
Fifty-one (51) percent of New Yorkers say they personally know someone who has tested positive for coronavirus and 32 percent, including nearly half of New York City voters, say they know someone who has died as a result of coronavirus. By a 92-8 percent margin, voters support the Governor’s order requiring face masks or coverings in public and by 87-11 percent, they support his decision to extend New York ‘On Pause’ until May 15.
“Mired in middling poll numbers for the last two years, Cuomo is feeling the love from New Yorkers of all stripes in year three of his third term, and his first global pandemic. He is viewed favorably by 90 percent of Democrats, 73 percent of independents and 53 percent of Republicans, his first time favorable with Republicans in more than six years,” said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg. “His 71-28 percent job performance rating this month bests last month’s all-time high, and is up strikingly from a negative 36-63 percent rating just two months ago.
“When it comes to whom New Yorkers trust more to make decisions about reopening the state and its economy – the President or the Governor – it’s not even close. Only 16 percent of voters – and only 36 percent of Republicans – trust Trump, compared to 78 percent of all voters – and 56 percent of Republicans – who trust Cuomo. Even self-identified conservatives trust Cuomo more, 57-34 percent,” Greenberg said.
One-Third of NY households include someone laid off & half have someone working from home
Fourteen percent of voters have been laid off, with another 13 percent having someone in their household laid off, and five percent who have been laid off in addition to someone else in their household.
Forty-eight (48) percent are working from home and/or have a household member working from home who normally works outside the home. Thirty-two (32) percent of voters say they and/or someone they live with is continuing to work outside the home.
“To say the coronavirus has had a tremendously detrimental effect on New York’s workforce – upstate and downstate – is a gross understatement. Nineteen percent of voters have themselves been laid off and another 13 percent say someone in their household has been laid off. While the layoffs have hit upstate and downstate nearly the same, 48 percent of Latino voters say that they and/or someone in their household has been laid off, compared to 30 percent of both white and black voters affected by layoffs,” Greenberg said.
“More than half of downstate voters and 41 percent of upstaters live in a household with at least one person working from home who usually works outside the house. While 66 percent of people earning $100,000 or more annually have someone working from home who usually does not, only 26 percent of people earning less than $50,000 have someone newly working from home,” Greenberg said. “About one-third of voters upstate and downstate have someone in their household continuing to work outside the house, including 43 percent of voters from union households, compared to 27 percent from non-union households.”
Other highlights in the poll:
• Coronavirus testing – By a 69-26 percent margin, voters say New York cannot start to reopen without widespread coronavirus testing. When asked which level of government should have ultimate responsibility to ensure appropriate testing, voters split with 49 percent saying the Federal government, 41 percent state governments and seven percent both.
• Public gatherings – Thirty-two percent of voters think it very (seven percent) or somewhat (25 percent) likely large public gatherings – like sporting events, concerts or graduations – will resume this summer, and 67 percent think it is not very (40 percent) or not at all (27 percent) likely. Similarly, if such events were to resume this summer, 69 percent say it is not very (30 percent) or not at all (39 percent) likely they would attend, compared to 31 percent who say it is very (10 percent) or somewhat (21 percent) likely they would attend.
• “Getting back to normal” – “While 43 percent of voters think ‘things will be back to normal sometime soon,’ down from 53 percent last month, a majority, 56 percent say they’re ‘not confident America will be back to normal anytime soon,’ up from 44 percent last month,” Greenberg said. “Republicans are optimistic, 61-39 percent, while 55 percent of independents, 63 percent of Democrats and at least 53 percent of voters from every region are more pessimistic.”
• Biden leads Trump among New York voters – Joe Biden leads Trump among New York voters, 65-29 percent, up from 58-33 percent in March. Trump has a 31-66 percent favorability rating, down from 35-59 percent last month. Biden has a 60-36 percent favorability rating, up from 51-40 percent last month.
• High approval for Cuomo and Fauci – Cuomo (84 percent) and Dr. Anthony Fauci (81 percent) continue to garner extraordinarily high approval ratings for their handling of the coronavirus pandemic, as does ‘your local government leader’ outside of New York City (78 percent). Trump’s handling of the pandemic fell to 34-65 percent, down from 41-56 percent approval last month.
• Stimulus checks – Thirty-six (36) percent say they have received a check or direct deposit from the Federal government in response to the pandemic. Forty-three percent of upstaters and 42 percent of Republicans say they have received money from the Federal government, and one-third of downstaters, Democrats and independents say they have.
