By a 48-to-34 percent margin, New York state registered voters say all elected officials should be voted out of office so new officials can start with a clean slate to “end political corruption in Albany,” according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.
A total of 86 percent of New York voters say government corruption is a “very serious” or “somewhat serious” problem, but voters say 50-to-38 percent that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature will not take steps to improve ethics in state government. In fact, 48 percent say Cuomo is part of the problem of ethics in government, while 39 percent say he is part of the solution.
“Can the people we elect to state government clean up the mess in Albany? Voters don’t think so. They want to clean out the Albany crowd,” said Quinnipiac University Poll Assistant Director Maurice Carroll. “Overwhelmingly, New Yorkers think corruption is a serious Albany problem. People in all sections of the state worry about corruption.
Despite their concerns about corruption, voters polled late last month approve 51-to-38 percent of the job Gov. Andrew Cuomo is doing, his best score since a 58-to-32 percent approval rating in a December 22, 2014, survey by the independent Quinnipiac University, right after he won re-election to a second term. Approval is 60-to-28 percent among New York City voters and 58-to-32 percent in the suburbs, while upstate voters give Cuomo a negative 38-to-50 percent approval rating.
“New York state voters say Gov. Andrew Cuomo is part of the problem — not the solution — in government corruption, but they approve overall of the way he does his job,” Carroll said.
“The job approval for the State Legislature is dismal. But voters approve of the job performance of their own Assembly member and state senator.”
Meanwhile, voters approve 38-to-15 percent of the job Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is doing and give Attorney General Eric Schneiderman a 47-to-21 percent job approval rating. And U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand gets a 54 – 18 percent job approval rating.
Voters in New York state approve 56-to-41 percent of the job President Barack Obama is doing, his highest approval rating in New York state since a 57-to-39 percent rating in a March 19, 2013, Quinnipiac University poll.
The poll of 1,667 New York state voters was conducted from March 22 to 29 and has a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points. Live interviewers call land lines and cell phones.
