Gov. Andrew Cuomo isn’t facing a serious Republican challenger for his seat. Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Image News
Gov. Andrew Cuomo holds a wide lead over his potential Republican challengers in the 2014 gubernatorial race, according to two new polls.
A Wall Street Journal-NBC 4 New York-Marist poll found that Cuomo leads Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino 65 percent to 23 percent. The governor holds a similar lead against other potential challengers, including Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin and 2010 Republican gubernatorial nominee Carl Paladino.
The poll also found that Cuomo would defeat Donald Trump by 70 percent to 23 percent in a hypothetical race.
“None of Gov. Cuomo’s likely challengers are in striking distance,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.
Sixty-six percent of voters said they have a favorable view of Cuomo, and 28 percent said they view him unfavorably, according to the Marist poll. Fifty-two percent of voters said they approve of his job performance, down from 54 percent in the same poll in April.
In a separate poll by Quinnipiac University, Cuomo’s approval rating jumped to 62 percent after it hit its lowest level of 53 percent in June. Only 25 percent of voters disapproved of his job performance in the latest poll.
Cuomo leads Astorino 56 percent to 25 percent, the Quinnipiac poll found. While Astorino leads among Republican voters, Cuomo leads among every other party, age, income, gender and regional group.
Voters said 59 to 31 percent that the governor deserves to be re-elected, including 81 percent of Democrats, 52 percent of independent voters and 40 percent of Republicans.
None of Cuomo’s likely challengers have officially declared their candidacy. Cuomo has not yet announced his candidacy, but he is widely expected to run.
The Marist poll was conducted Nov. 18-20 and surveyed 817 adults, with 675 of them registered voters. The margin of error was 3.4 percentage points among adults and 3.8 percentage points among registered voters.
The Quinnipiac poll surveyed 1,337 New York State voters Nov. 20-24 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.
