ALBANY, NY – New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s job approval rating has dropped 10 points since January, a poll released on Tuesday showed amid bipartisan criticism of his government’s reports on the number of residents of nursing homes that died due to Covid-19.
A Siena College Research Institute poll of 804 New York voters found that overall approval for the Democratic governor’s office fell to 51-47 from 56-42 in January. When asked whether they approve of how Mr. Cuomo made information about deaths in nursing homes public, 39% said they approved, compared with 55% who did not.
State officials now say that more than 15,000 residents of nursing homes and adult and assisted living centers have been confirmed or presumably have succumbed to the coronavirus since March last year – a count that is about 50% higher than the previous figures released by the State. For months, the state did not respond to requests from lawmakers and journalists asking for the number of residents who died in hospitals.
Democratic and Republican state lawmakers criticized the delay, as well as a statement last week by governor aide Melissa DeRosa that the state postponed the release of the full count in August for fear that former President Trump’s government would politicize the information .
Democrats who control the state assembly and the Senate said they held private discussions over the weekend over the reversal of a state law, enacted in March, which gave Cuomo unprecedented power to unilaterally issue the guidelines needed to control the pandemic. The governor used his authority to close schools and set rules for running businesses.