Cuomo Dominating The Polls, But Is He Really What New Yorkers Want?

According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC 4 New York/Marist College poll, the governor is holding a 25% lead over his opponent Rob Astorino amongst likely voters. But is he really the person that New Yorkers want to run the state? Evidence suggests that they do not. For instance, he faced a relatively strong primary challenge from progressive candidate Zeyphr Teachout.

 

 

 

The poll also concluded that 56% of New Yorkers feel that the governor is doing a fair/poor job in office compared to 42% who would rate his performance as excellent/good. His job approval rating has also gone down to 42% from 47% in August, and 57% of New Yorkers believe that New York is in a recession. So these numbers indicate that New Yorkers are looking for a change in the Capitol, but the numbers also indicate that they don’t feel that his opponent Rob Astorino is the guy for that change and this is why Cuomo still holds a sizeable lead in the polls. The reason for that is because nearly a third of statewide voters still don’t know enough about Astorino to form an opinion about him, and 37% of those who do know enough about him have a negative impression of him.

 

The governor’s sizeable lead in the polls, and the state’s lack of knowledge about Mr. Astorino is easily due in large part to fundraising. Governor Cuomo is dominating his opponent in fundraising, and in July it was reported that he had 25 million remaining for his campaign compared to Astorino’s wimpish 2.4 million. In conclusion, New Yorkers are looking for change in the Capitol, but at the moment there isn’t a good enough candidate with enough funds to compete with the governor.