From the intro to a story in The NY Times:On March 3, the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion released a poll that pegged Mr. Paterson’s job approval rating at the lowest point in the 27 years that Marist has been surveying public opinion of New York governors.
Only 26 percent of the 1,045 registered voters surveyed said Mr. Paterson was doing either a good or excellent job, while 71 percent said he was doing a fair or poor job.
Even Eliot Spitzer had a higher approval rating, 30 percent, in his last days as
governor after being implicated in a prostitution scandal almost a year ago. The
poll, conducted in late February, indicates that voters believe Mr. Paterson is
working hard and understands the state’s problems, but suggests that people do not have confidence in his ability to lead.
Mr. Paterson and his aides declined to comment on the survey Tuesday.
After a series of missteps, including his botched handling of the selection of a senator to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton, the governor has acknowledged his political troubles.
“If it wasn’t for A-Rod and Bernie Madoff, they’d of just about run me out of this state right now,” he joked in an interview on WFAN-AM in New York this weekend. Last week, he overhauled his staff, and he has said he is determined to right his administration.
The Marist poll follows a similar showing for Mr. Paterson in a Quinnipiac University poll; both showed that he would be trounced by Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo in a hypothetical primary matchup. Mr. Cuomo has said he likes the job he has, but has also not ruled out a run for governor.
From the NY Post editorial:
Today Albany teeters on bankruptcy.
Paterson's blindness severely constricts his ability to acquire basic information.
His administration is adrift; he is inconsistent, imprecise and often contradictory in his public statements.
To put it bluntly, the governor needs competent help.
