Politics on the Hudson

A majority of New Yorkers are so ashamed by the latest scandals at the state Capitol they are embarrassed to call themselves New Yorkers, a Siena College poll today found.

Seventy percent of voters agreed that New York has never been more dysfunctional, and by a 54 percent to 41 percent margin, voters also say that what’s going on in Albany makes them “embarrassed” to call themselves New Yorkers.

In upstate, 61 percent to 35 percent said they are embarrassed by the latest scandals, the Siena poll found.

Statewide, 75 percent of New Yorkers said they would vote for anyone “that will clean up the mess in Albany once and for all.” In upstate, 80 percent said they would.

But 55 percent of voters want embattled Gov. David Paterson to serve the remainder of his term, consistent with two polls last week. And an even larger majority, 71 percent, would rather see the Democratic governor finish his term rather than have the Legislature move to impeach him.

Paterson is facing two scandals that threaten whether he can stay in office to finish his term, which expires Dec. 31. But Paterson is getting back to business today, holding a budget town hall event in Brooklyn and then heading to the Capitol for various meetings and events.

“More voters have an unfavorable view of David Paterson now than at any time, and more voters view the job he’s doing as governor as poor than at any time in the two years he’s been governor,” said Siena pollster Steven Greenberg.

“Yet, a clear majority wants to see him serve out the remaining nine months of his term rather than resign.”
Twenty-one percent of voters had a favorable view of Paterson, compared to 67 percent who had an unfavorable view, the poll found.

By a 57-percent to 38-percent margin, voters believed that Attorney General Andrew Cuomo can be fair and impartial as he investigates the Paterson administration. But 68 percent of voters said the investigations would be better handled by an outside prosecutor.

Cuomo, who is expected to run for governor, is probing whether Paterson and his staff intervened in a domestic-violence case involving a top aide, David Johnson.

The state Commission on Public Integrity last week also referred a case to Cuomo in which the commission found Paterson received free tickets to the World Series and potentially lied under oath that he planned to pay for them.

The Siena College poll was conducted Sunday to 712 registered voters in New York. It has a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points.

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