Strong Approval For Gillibrand, Not So Much For Paterson

Posted by: Joseph Spector - Posted in Uncategorized on Jan 29, 2009

Gov. David Paterson may have not won many fans with the way he selected a new U.S. senator, but a majority of people in New York are pleased with the pick, a new poll shows.

By nearly a two-to-one margin, voters approve of Paterson’s selection of former Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-Hudson, Columbia County, as senator, a Siena College poll found today.

Fifty-one percent of voters approve of Gillibrand’s appointment, including nine percent who strongly approve, compared to 28 percent who disapprove. The opinion was largely the same among Democrats, Republicans and independent voters, but people’s opinion of the Albany-area Democrat is different between downstate and upstate voters.

New York City voters approve of her by a 44 percent to 34 percent margin, but voters are almost evenly split in the New York City suburbs, 44 percent to 43 percent. Upstate voters, though, approve of her appointment 63 percent to 19 percent.

“Gillibrand starts her Senate tenure with New Yorkers having an open mind and in fact approving her selection,” said Steven Greenberg, spokesman for the Siena New York Poll. ”And a plurality of voters thinks Gillibrand will do an excellent or good job as senator.”

But Gillibrand still has convincing to do, the poll found. Only 21 percent of voters say they are prepared to vote for Gillibrand in 2010, when she will need to seek election, while 29 percent prefer “someone else.” And among Democrats, 11 percent would prefer she run unopposed, while 63 percent want another Democrat to challenge her.

Voters, meanwhile, aren’t pleased with the way Paterson handled the selection process, which has been widely criticized as secretive and indecisive.

Sixty-two percent of voters rated the way the governor handled the process as either poor or fair. And Paterson’s favorability rating has fallen to its lowest level since May in Siena’s polling, at 54 percent compared to 60 percent a week ago. Among independent voters, his favorability plummeted in less than a week from 68 percent to 49 percent.

Nearly two-thirds of voters want future U.S. Senate vacancies filled by an election, not a gubernatorial appointment.

The Siena poll was conducted Jan. 25-27, 2009 by telephone calls to 622 New York State registered voters. It has a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.