Support for Gov. Paterson is waning while his rival, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, gradually gets more support, according to a new poll by Siena College.
The poll found Cuomo would crush Paterson with 70 percent of the vote in a possible Democratic primary.
But these numbers don’t come as a surprise.
"The governor at the moment has no political base," Siena poll spokesman Steven Greenberg said, according to the Daily News.
Even the president urged Paterson not to run for governor last month.
Meanwhile, Cuomo’s numbers are up: Last month the poll showed Cuomo would win 66 percent to 20 percent.
According to the survey, Paterson’s poll statistics are not likely to improve by much, even if he is able to bridge the $3 billion budget gap without raising taxes and cutting the budget.
Local
The budget crisis makes this situation even more sticky for Paterson. The poll shows that 53 percents of voters are more likely to choose Paterson if he can balance the budget without raising taxes.
But 56 percent say they would not want to vote for him if he and the Legislature make major cuts in spending for health and education.
Even though Paterson’s deficit reduction package does not include proposing new taxes, he is planning to cut $1 billion for health care and education.
As much as 75 percent of those polled don’t think Paterson can bridge the budget gap by not cutting the budget.
It gets worse for Paterson, 58 percent of blacks would support Cuomo. Many Democrats prefer Cuomo to run for governor next year rather than Paterson.
“The governor is in a political lose-lose situation," Greenberg said. "It's very difficult for the governor to be fiscally responsible and politically strategic at the same time."
The poll found some good news for Paterson, however. Most New Yorkers don’t blame him for the budget deficit. Only 13 percent say it is his fault.
But the bad news continues. Just 32 percent hopes he runs for governor and 21 percent hope he runs for Senate. A major chunk of pollster, about 43 percent, wishes that he bows out of the race for governor.
