Gov. Andrew Cuomo has the inside track to re-election this year, with 50 point leads over his potential Republican opponents, according to a Siena College Poll released Monday.
Cuomo”™s job ratings hit their highest mark in a year, according to the poll, with 66 percent of New York voters polled saying they viewed Cuomo favorably, 54 percent giving him a positive job performance rating and 57 percent saying they are prepared to re-elect him.
Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said those rankings are at their highest levels since early last year. “As he enters his re-election year, Cuomo is sitting pretty,” Greenberg said.
Robert P. Astorino, the Westchester County executive, has not formally announced his candidacy but has emerged as the likely Republican candidate this year. Astorino continues to lack name recognition outside of the lower Hudson Valley region. He received a 14 percent favorable rating, but 76 percent of those polled said they didn”™t know him or had no opinion of him.
Donald Trump, a longshot to get widespread Republican Party support, was viewed unfavorably by 56 percent of those polled, receiving a 38 percent favorable rating.
“Neither Trump nor Astorino garners the support of a majority of Republicans, and both trail among independents by more than 40 points,” Greenberg said.
Cuomo also received high marks for the marquee proposals he discussed during his Jan. 9 State of the State address. The governor”™s plan to double the penalty for drivers under the age of 21 for texting while driving received support from 82 percent of those polled by Siena. Cuomo”™s universal pre-K proposal had support from 80 percent and a plan to revoke drivers”™ licenses after three DWI convictions received support from 79 percent.
William O”™Reilly, a spokesman for Astorino, said the big poll numbers on top of the State of the State were irrelevant in the long term.
“They come in a vacuum when no one is seriously challenging the governor”™s record,” O”™Reilly said. “His balloon will begin to descend when real contrasts are drawn and the reality of New York”™s decline is put in perspective.”
Cuomo also has a major funding advantage over Astorino, according to filings with the state Board of Elections last week.
Cuomo already has $33.3 million cash on hand, having raised $7 million since the last filing six months ago. Astorino has a little more than $1 million after ramping up fundraising and raking in $401,000 since his last disclosure statement.
Astorino won re-election as county executive last November despite the fact registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in the county by roughly 110,000. His victory propelled him to frontrunner status for the nomination and he has been courted by state Republican leaders including party chairman Ed Cox, who donated $27,603 to the Friends of Rob Astorino, according to the last Board of Elections filing.
