NY BLACKS BACK CUOMO OVER PATERSON 2-1, NEW POLL SHOWS
BLACKS BACK CUOMO OVER PATERSON 2-1,
QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY POLL FINDS;
GOVERNOR’S APPROVAL CONTINUES TO INCH UP
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo leads Gov. David Paterson 51 – 24 percent among black Democrats in a primary contest for the 2010 governor’s race, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today, and does better than Gov. Paterson among black voters in job approval and favorability.
Among all Democrats, Cuomo tops Paterson 61 – 19 percent, compared to 61 – 15 percent in an August 16 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University.
In a Republican primary for Governor, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani tops former U.S. Rep. Rick Lazio 74 – 9 percent. Looking at possible general election matchups:
· Giuliani leads Paterson 54 – 32 percent;
· Cuomo tops Giuliani 50 – 40 percent;
· Paterson ties Lazio 38 – 38 percent;
· Cuomo leads Lazio 61 – 22 percent.
In the Cuomo-Giuliani matchup, independent voters split with 44 percent for Cuomo and 43 percent for Giuliani. White voters back Giuliani 47 – 42 percent. Black voters go to Cuomo 78 – 14 percent.
In a Paterson-Giuliani face-off, black voters back the Governor 72 – 13 percent.
“If there’s a racial issue in a matchup between Gov. David Paterson and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, these numbers don’t show it. Black Democrats back Cuomo hands down, and black voters in general give Cuomo better grades than the Governor on every measure – even in a race against Mayor Rudolph Giuliani,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
“The only good news for Gov. Paterson is that he doesn’t lose to Rick Lazio.”
New York State voters disapprove 57 – 30 percent of the job Paterson is doing, compared to 59 – 30 percent disapproval August 16. He gets a negative 28 – 52 percent favorability rating.
Cuomo gets a 71 – 11 percent approval rating and a 61 – 13 percent favorability score.
Looking at how black voters rate Paterson and Cuomo:
· 75 – 9 percent job approval for Cuomo;
· 46 – 38 percent job approval for Paterson;
· 70 – 3 percent favorability for Cuomo;
· 53 – 26 percent favorability for Paterson.
“Nothing seems to help the Governor’s job approval numbers. He made news by calling for big cuts to balance the state budget, but voters still turn thumbs down,” Carroll said.
“Nothing seems to hurt Attorney General Cuomo whose job performance is still stratospheric. He remains the man to beat in 2010.”
President Barack Obama’s administration did the “wrong thing” in asking Paterson not to run for election to a full term next year, voters say 52 – 34 percent. Black voters seem less offended than white voters as blacks say 43 – 35 percent the stop-Paterson move was wrong, compared to 57 – 31 percent among whites.
“Voters don’t approve of the way messengers from President Barack Obama suggested that Paterson should not run,” Carroll said. “Many politicians thought it was a clumsy tactic and, asked if it was right or wrong, most New Yorkers said ‘wrong.’”
President Obama’s Approval
New York State voters approve 62 – 32 percent of the job President Obama is doing, compared to 60 – 35 percent August 16, before his stop-Paterson move became public. In today’s survey, Obama wins 89 – 7 percent approval from Democrats and 56 – 38 percent support from independent voters. Republicans disapprove 70 – 22 percent.
From October 14 – 19, Quinnipiac University surveyed 2,367 New York State registered voters, with a margin of error of +/- 2 percentage points. The survey includes 1,089 Democrats with a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points and 659 Republicans with a margin of error of +/- 3.8 percentage points. There are 299 black voters with a margin of error of +/- 5.7 percent.
The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public opinion surveys in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio and nationwide as a public service and for research.
For more data or RSS feed– http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, call (203) 582-5201, or follow us on Twitter.
