Polls: Top NY politicians headed in different directions
(CNN) – New polls of New York state voters suggest that two of the state's top politicians are headed in different directions.
Sixty-one percent of those questioned in a Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday disapprove of the job David Paterson is doing as New York governor. Twenty-eight percent approve of Paterson's performance in office, unchanged from April's survey. It's the lowest-ever approval rating for a New York governor recorded by Quinnipiac polling.
The survey indicates that Paterson would lose a hypothetical primary matchup next year against state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo by an overwhelming 62 to 17 percent margin. Cuomo, who has not yet revealed whether he plans to run for the top spot, is the son of former three-term New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.
"Paterson has time to turn things around before the 2010 election, of course, but there's not a hint of good news for him in this poll," says Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
It's a very different story for another top New York politician. A new Marist Poll released today indicates that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's approval rating has jumped seven points over the past three months, from 52 percent in February to 59 percent in May.
The survey also suggests that New Yorker City voters are becoming more optimistic about their city's future, with 53 percent of those questioned saying the city's headed in the right direction. That's up 16 points from Marist's February poll.
Forty-seven percent of those questioned say Bloomberg deserves a third term as mayor, up seven points from February. Forty-eight percent say it's time to give someone else a turn as mayor, down seven points from Marist's last poll.
The survey also indicates that Bloomberg has double-digit leads in hypothetical election matchups against three possible contenders.
The Marist poll of 741 New York City voters was conducted by telephone May 5-7. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted May 5-11, with 2,828 New York State registered voters questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 1.8 percentage points.
