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ALBANY -- Gov. Eliot Spitzer's favorability rating among New Yorkers continued to sag in a new poll Wednesday, with only 41 percent of voters having a favorable opinion of the first-term governor.
The Siena College Research Institute poll found that the Democratic governor's favorability rating dipped from 44 percent just a month ago. Still, the rating is statistically the same as January because Wednesday's poll had a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.
Thirty-three percent of voters gave Spitzer a positive job-approval rating, compared to 65 percent who rate his performance as negative. It is virtually unchanged from January's 32 percent job rating.
Twenty-five percent of voters would re-elect Spitzer in 2010, while 50 percent would prefer "someone else." The poor numbers for the governor were consistent in both upstate and in the New York City-area, the poll found, while the fallout has been greatest with Democrats, African Americans and Hispanics, said Siena poll spokesman Steven Greenberg.
Fifty-eight percent of voters said the state is no better since Spitzer took office in January 2007. Twenty-two percent said things have gotten worse.
"For New Yorkers, the (Spitzer campaign) slogan 'Everything Changes on Day One' is a long-forgotten memory," Greenberg said.
On the state budget, 32 percent of voters said they would prefer raising taxes rather than cutting health care or education spending. Yet nearly 30 percent were undecided.
"The governor has never governed by polls and continues to believe that a tax increase on New Yorkers would be entirely inappropriate in this current economic climate," said Spitzer spokesman Errol Cockfield.
The state faces a roughly $4.6 billion budget gap in the 2008-09 fiscal year, which starts April 1. Spitzer has proposed a series of new fees and cuts to health care to close the deficit.
But Spitzer's troubles began well before this budget cycle. After winning election with a convincing 69 percent of the vote and a pledge to fix a dysfunctional state government, Spitzer has been mired in political squabbles and scandals.
He battled with legislators over his policies and remains embroiled in a flap over whether aides were compiling travel documents to damage the governor's Republican foe, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. Spitzer's popularity dropped further after he sought in September to give drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants, a plan he later abandoned.
Yet Spitzer has hoped to start his second year with better results and has tried to strike a conciliatory tone with the Legislature.
But some critics said they are still waiting for a new climate in Albany.
The Siena College Research Institute poll found that the Democratic governor's favorability rating dipped from 44 percent just a month ago. Still, the rating is statistically the same as January because Wednesday's poll had a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.
Thirty-three percent of voters gave Spitzer a positive job-approval rating, compared to 65 percent who rate his performance as negative. It is virtually unchanged from January's 32 percent job rating.
Twenty-five percent of voters would re-elect Spitzer in 2010, while 50 percent would prefer "someone else." The poor numbers for the governor were consistent in both upstate and in the New York City-area, the poll found, while the fallout has been greatest with Democrats, African Americans and Hispanics, said Siena poll spokesman Steven Greenberg.
Fifty-eight percent of voters said the state is no better since Spitzer took office in January 2007. Twenty-two percent said things have gotten worse.
"For New Yorkers, the (Spitzer campaign) slogan 'Everything Changes on Day One' is a long-forgotten memory," Greenberg said.
On the state budget, 32 percent of voters said they would prefer raising taxes rather than cutting health care or education spending. Yet nearly 30 percent were undecided.
"The governor has never governed by polls and continues to believe that a tax increase on New Yorkers would be entirely inappropriate in this current economic climate," said Spitzer spokesman Errol Cockfield.
The state faces a roughly $4.6 billion budget gap in the 2008-09 fiscal year, which starts April 1. Spitzer has proposed a series of new fees and cuts to health care to close the deficit.
But Spitzer's troubles began well before this budget cycle. After winning election with a convincing 69 percent of the vote and a pledge to fix a dysfunctional state government, Spitzer has been mired in political squabbles and scandals.
He battled with legislators over his policies and remains embroiled in a flap over whether aides were compiling travel documents to damage the governor's Republican foe, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. Spitzer's popularity dropped further after he sought in September to give drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants, a plan he later abandoned.
Yet Spitzer has hoped to start his second year with better results and has tried to strike a conciliatory tone with the Legislature.
But some critics said they are still waiting for a new climate in Albany.
http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll.../802210342/1006
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