Politics on the Hudson

Gov. David Paterson’s popularity continues to decline, a poll today found, but voters appear pleased with his decision to seek to legalize same-sex marriages.

A Siena College poll reports that the Democratic governor is viewed favorably by just 27 percent of voters and unfavorably by 63 percent, down from 29 percent to 58 percent last month.  Only 12 percent of voters would elect Paterson in 2010, the poll found.

But by a 53 percent to 39 percent margin, voters support the state Senate passing a bill to legalize same-sex marriages in New York, Siena reports. Last week, Paterson introduced legislation to make same-sex marriages law, but the measure is stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

“By a fairly significant margin, voters would like to see New York join with Vermont, Massachusetts, Iowa, and other states in allowing same sex couples to marry here,” said Steven Greenberg, a Siena poll spokesman.

The Siena survey follows numerous polls in recent months that show Paterson out of favor with most voters. He plans to seek a full four-year term in 2010 after moving from the lieutenant-governor post to the governor’s seat in March 2008 after Eliot Spitzer’s resignation.

The Siena poll found that voters would prefer any of the three most recent governors to Paterson, even the disgraced Spitzer. Thirty-nine percent would prefer former Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo back in the governor’s office, 33 percent would prefer former Republican Gov. George Pataki and 14 percent would prefer Spitzer. Only 8 percent would opt to have Paterson as governor.

Siena asked voters 10 different reasons why they may not support Paterson. The top answers were his handling of the state’s finances, recent pay raises for his staff and negotiating the 2009-10 budget in secrecy.
Other factors, such as selecting Kirsten Gillibrand as U.S. senator in January or television ads run by critics, were further down on the list.

In a hypothetical 2010 Democratic primary for governor, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has 64 percent support, compared to 11 percent for Paterson.

In potential general-election race, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani would beat Paterson 56 percent to 29 percent. Cuomo would beat Giuliani 53 percent to 39 percent.

The poll was conducted April 13 through15 to 682 New York registered voters. It has a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.

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