December 10, 2007, 10:59 am
Latest Poll: Can It Get Any Worse for Spitzer?
By Sewell Chan
A new poll by the Siena Research Institute finds that for the first time, a majority of New York State voters — 51 percent, up from 46 percent in November — view Gov. Eliot Spitzer unfavorably and that most voters — including a plurality of Democrats — would favor “someone else” over re-electing the governor.
The new poll, released this morning, shows the extent to which Mr. Spitzer’s first year in office has been damaged by his administration’s botched effort to discredit State Senator Joseph L. Bruno, his constant feuding with the Senate Republicans and his ill-fated proposal to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.
“Voters are continuing to lose faith in their governor,” said Steven Greenberg, a spokesman for the poll, part of Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y. “Today, a majority of voters have an unfavorable view of Spitzer. More than two-thirds give him a negative job performance rating. More voters think he’s doing a ‘poor’ job than think he’s doing an ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ job combined. Even 61 percent of Democrats view his job performance negatively.”
The telephone poll was conducted Dec. 3-6 with 625 registered New York State voters. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The poll found that 36 percent of voters viewed the governor favorably, and 51 percent unfavorably, compared with respective margins of 41 percent to 46 percent in November and 64 percent to 22 percent in June. Most New York City voters still view the governor favorably, while upstate voters overwhelmingly do not, the poll found.
Siena reported that 27 percent of voters gave Mr. Spitzer’s job performance a positive rating and 70 percent a negative rating (down from 33 percent to 64 percent in November and 55 percent to 37 percent in June).
“A majority of voters, 56 percent, are not prepared to re-elect the governor,” Mr. Greenberg said. “Only one in three Democrats is prepared to re-elect him, while 42 percent prefer ‘someone else.’ Nearly half of New York City voters, 57 percent of downstate suburban voters, and nearly two-thirds of upstate voters prefer ‘someone else.’ He’s dug himself a deep hole and so far has not been able to find a ladder.” |
