Most New York Voters Prefer a Candidate in 2022 Who’s Not Cuomo

(Bloomberg) -- Most New York voters would like someone besides Andrew Cuomo to run for governor in 2022. They're torn on how he should respond to state and federal investigations concerning sexual harassment and official misconduct.

While 35% of registered voters would re-elect Cuomo, 56% would like to see a different candidate, a new poll from Siena College found. A month ago, those figures were 37% and 53%, respectively.

Those polled had varying views on how he should chart his political future. A third of registered voters, 33%, said Cuomo should run again, 39% said he should finish his term but not run again, and 23% said he should resign immediately.

The poll found 45% of voters had a favorable view of Cuomo, while 47% had an unfavorable one. The numbers are down dramatically from his peak of 77% favorability in April 2020, when he became a national source of comfort amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The new poll from the Loudonville, New York, school was conducted from June 22-29 and has a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.

Cuomo currently faces federal and state investigations into sexual harassment allegations from current and former aides, as well as claims that his administration covered up Covid-19 nursing-home deaths, provided relatives with virus testing before it was widely available, mishandled construction of the Mario Cuomo Bridge across the Hudson River and misused public resources to write a $5 million book on his Covid leadership.

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