Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is under fire for his handling of the Vito Lopez scandal. Credit: Daniel Barry/Getty Images
Half of New York voters believe Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver should step down because of the way he handled sexual harassment allegations against former Assemblyman Vito Lopez, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.
Fifty-four percent of men and 48 percent of women want Silver to step down, Wednesday’s poll revealed.
“The Vito Lopez sex scandal persuades a bare majority of New Yorkers that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver should step aside. A lot of voters say get rid of the pack of them; there should be a legislative house-cleaning,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
An ethics report released last month showed that Lopez harassed at least eight female staffers after Silver approved a $100,000 settlement with two other women who accused Lopez of sexual harassment. The report also showed that Silver’s office failed to refer the allegations to an ethics committee.
The poll also found that 58 percent of New York State voters would not want their daughters to be an intern in the State Legislature. Sixty-eight percent of voters with children under 18 years old said they wouldn’t want their daughter interning in the State Legislature.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s job approval also slipped in the poll, with voters giving him a 53 percent approval rating, his lowest since taking office. Still, 58 percent of voters think he deserves re-election in 2014.
The poll surveyed 1,075 New York State voters between May 29 and June 3 with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
