Bloomberg
Half of New Yorkers want Cuomo to continue despite scandals
(Bloomberg) – A new poll released on Monday said that half of New York voters did not think Andrew Cuomo should resign, encouraging him and his supporters as the three-term governor faces an impeachment investigation and calls for an impeachment investigation. dismissal of dozens of lawmakers in his own party. The Democratic governor’s approval rating has dropped to its lowest point in the Siena College poll since taking office in 2011, with only 43% of registered voters in New York taking a favorable view of him, however. That fell from 56% in February and an increase of 77% reached last year during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the survey. Cuomo, 63, hit the low mark twice before. Now, only a third of voters believe he should seek a fourth term, the poll said. His standing with ordinary New Yorkers declined dramatically after seven women accused him of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior in the workplace, as well as accusations that his government covered up deaths in Covid nursing homes. But the fact that Cuomo has retained half the electorate shows that months of prime time television appearances and praise from President Joe Biden have polished Cuomo’s reputation with voters and that forcing him to resign will not be so easy. to be able to compartmentalize how they feel about Cuomo, ”said Steven Greenberg, a researcher at Siena College. “While their views on him in general – favorability, job performance, re-election – have had a significant impact this month, voters’ views on how Cuomo handled the pandemic remain largely positive.” Cuomo’s public opinion polls are significant because the governor vehemently refused to give up, despite calls from Democratic leaders in the New York Legislature, the majority of the US House delegation and both senators, including the majority leader Chuck Schumer. Perhaps the most significant finding is that a clear majority, 61% of Democratic voters, said he should not step down. The latest poll was conducted from March 8 to 12 among 805 registered voters in New York and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points. Hence he did not ask for the governor’s resignation. On Monday, Biden’s spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the president had not spoken to Cuomo recently, but believes there should be an investigation into the governor’s behavior. It is up to New York to determine “whether he still has the confidence of the people of the state,” she said. The “focus here, of the federal government, is, of course, to support this independent investigation, which we do adamantly.” Investigations begin New York City Assembly President Carl Heastie said on Monday that the Judiciary Committee’s investigation, which could result in an impeachment, is “very broad”, and could look at issues beyond allegations of harassment. He said that the committee should announce the company that will conduct the investigation and that the state would pay for it. He said he was not sure how long the review could take. “To say that you have to come back with a decision in a week, or two weeks, or a month, would be unfair to the process of an investigation, “he said. Separately, a former Cuomo aide who accused the governor of harassing her said that she spoke on Monday with investigators who are part of the investigation led by two lawyers selected by New York Attorney General Letitia James, Cuomo denied his claims. Charlotte Bennett, 25, spoke with investigators for more than four hours and shared 120 pages of r egistros and documents to “corroborate his accusations against Governor Cuomo and his senior team”, according to a statement by his lawyer Debra Katz. She said Bennett detailed allegations of sexual harassment against Cuomo, as well as a “sexually hostile workplace” that was part of a “deliberate effort to create rivalries and tension between the employees he paid attention to”. ConfidenceCuomo’s projection on Friday said that what the former advisers claimed “did not happen” and that he would not resign based on calls by lawmakers to resign because he “was not elected by politicians, I was elected by the people”. On Monday, he seemed almost elated after the results of the research were released during a press conference held at a vaccine site soon to open on Long Island. During a closed live interview with reporters, Cuomo told jokes and focused his comments on the application of the vaccine. He did not openly address the scandals or resignations, but was flanked by supporters who praised the governor and thanked him for his leadership in bringing more photos to his communities. Later, his government issued a press release in the after reports in the Washington Post and the New York Times that Larry Schwartz, Cuomo’s vaccine secretary, had contacted local leaders to assess his support. Some complained that they felt that their supply of vaccines to save Covid’s lives was at stake. “Larry’s conversations did not mention the distribution of vaccines – he would never link political support to public health decisions,” said Beth Garvey, Cuomo’s acting advisor on In an ImpasseState, Democratic President Jay S. Jacobs, a longtime supporter Cuomo’s date, said on Monday that the poll numbers, along with conversations with other Democratic county presidents, showed that it was time for the state to get back to work. “Most New Yorkers and an overwhelming number of Democrats want an investigation before making a judgment,” he said in a statement. In a subsequent telephone interview, Jacobs said the poll was an important indicator of public opinion because “everyone has said what they have to say. The legislators, the governor, all spoke out, ”he said. “We reached an impasse, where a group of people wanted him to resign and he said ‘no thanks’, so now where do we go from here?” Jacobs said the state has to “move on and continue to work together regardless of this issue because there are bigger issues to be resolved and with investigations we know that this issue will be resolved eventually. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio continued his attacks on Cuomo, saying on Monday that reports that a top adviser to Cuomo were linking vaccines for political support to the link was the “definition of corruption” . De Blasio said he had not spoken to the governor in weeks and that he saw no effort to reduce the supply of vaccines in New York in retaliation for his demands that the governor gave up. Still, he said the city had not received its fair share of vaccines. During the pandemic, said de Blasio, the governor “added politics to the decisions”. (Updates with Bennett’s meeting with investigators, starting with the 10th paragraph.) For more articles like this, visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay on top of the most trusted source of business news. © 2021 Bloomberg LP