Nearly two-thirds of New York voters would rather Gov. Andrew Cuomo resign from office immediately or not run for a fourth term, according to a new Siena College poll released Thursday.
Almost a quarter (23 percent) of registered voters surveyed said the embattled Democratic governor should step down now, while a further 39 percent said Cuomo can finish his current term but should run for re-election in 2022.
However, if Cuomo did seek a fourth term, more than half (56 percent) of voters said they would prefer to elect “someone else.”
The telling results come as the New York Democrat faces multiple, separate investigations, including an impeachment inquiry, into allegations of sexual harassment and his administration’s handling of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.
Cuomo is also facing a probe into the alleged misuse of state resources to write his $5.1 million pandemic memoir, “American Crisis.” He has denied wrongdoing.
Still, the New York governor holds strong support from minority voters, with 58 percent of black voters polled saying they would grant him a fourth term, and 41 percent of Latino voters.
Less than a third (31 percent) of white voters said they would re-elect him in 2022.
Cuomo’s senior adviser defended the governor’s innocence in response to the overall unfavorable findings — and even seemed to admit he thought the results would be worse.
“Today’s Siena poll is surprisingly positive because New Yorkers have only heard one side of the story and haven’t yet heard the truth,” Rich Azzopardi said in a statement.
“When they hear the true story and the political games people are playing, it will be much different.”
Azzopardi insisted that Cuomo still holds strong favor among Democrats.
“Also it’s remarkable that only 13 percent of Democrats said the governor should resign even though virtually all Democratic politicians called for it. Clearly Democrats believe the governor more than the politicians,” he said.
When it comes to the ongoing probes, more than four in 10 voters (42 percent) said the investigations will find evidence that shows Cuomo committed sexual harassment, compared to 32 percent who believe no evidence will be found.
Twenty-seven percent said they either did not know or had no opinion on the matter.
But when asked if the state Assembly should vote to impeach Cuomo, 45 percent of voters opposed the move, compared to 35 percent in favor.
Twenty percent said they either did not know or had no opinion.
Meanwhile, the turmoil hasn’t deterred the divisive New York politician, who held a $10,000-per-individual-ticket, $15,000-per-couple fundraiser in Manhattan on Tuesday night packed with labor leaders, corporate CEOs and lobbyists.
The poll was conducted between June 22 and 29 — before the Assembly Judiciary Committee met in Albany on Wednesday and decided it will soon be issuing subpoenas to witnesses to compel testimony in its ongoing investigation.
The poll surveyed 809 registered voters and has a plus/minus 4.1 percentage-point margin of error.
