He'll have some stiff competition: Biden, Hillary, Warren, etc.
NY Polls: Cuomo in strong 2014 position but trails Clinton in 2016 racePosted by
By CNN Political Editor Paul Steinhauser
(CNN) - New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo's in a strong position to win re-election next year, two new polls suggest.
But one of the surveys also indicates that among New York state Democrats, Cuomo's a distant second to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who represented the Empire State for eight years in the U.S. Senate, when it comes to their pick for their party's presidential nominee in 2016.
According to a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday morning, 62% of New York state voters say they approve of the job Cuomo's doing as Governor, with just one in four giving him a thumbs-down.
Cuomo's approval rating is up nine percentage points from a Quinnipiac survey in June. The Governor's approval rating is even up to 50%-37% among Republicans. Support of GOP voters was crucial to Cuomo's sky-high approval ratings in Quinnipiac surveys during his first two years in office, in 2011 and 2012.
And the poll also indicates that nearly six in 10 Empire State voters say Cuomo deserves a second term in Albany, and he has a more than two-to-one lead over a possible Republican challenger in a hypothetical 2014 gubernatorial showdown.
"At mid-year, Cuomo was coming off a generally unsatisfying legislative session. His news-making plan to make Roe v Wade part of state law and his anti-corruption efforts didn't go anywhere," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Now his job approval as he heads into the election year is healthy and a big majority of New Yorkers think he deserves a second term."
According to the survey, Cuomo tops Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, a possible Republican challenger, 56%-25% in a possible 2014 general election showdown.
Cuomo's approval/disapproval rating stands at 52%-44% in a new NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist College poll also released Tuesday. Cuomo's approval rating edged down two points from April.
According to that survey, Cuomo leads Astorino and two other potential GOP challengers by at least 40 points each in possible matchups. The survey also puts Cuomo at 70% and Donald Trump at 24% in a hypothetical general election showdown.
"Right now, Governor Cuomo is in good shape to win a second term. None of Governor Cuomo's likely challengers are in striking distance," said Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.
Cuomo is also considered a possible 2016 contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, as is Clinton, who, if she decides to make another bid for the White House, would instantly become the overwhelming frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.
According to the Marist survey, 64% of New York state Democrats say they support Clinton as their party's nominee, with Cuomo at 14%, Vice President Joe Biden at 8%, freshman Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts at 6%, and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley with 3%.
Among New York state Republicans, Gov. Chris Christie of neighboring New Jersey, at 40%, tops a crowded GOP field. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, each at 10%, are the only other possible White House contenders cracking double digits.
In general election showdowns, Clinton leads Christie 57%-39% among registered voters, with Cuomo ahead of Christie 51%-44%. A Siena College survey released earlier this month indicated Christie leading Cuomo but trailing Clinton in hypothetical presidential matchups for New York's 29 electoral votes.
New York is reliably blue in presidential elections. The last Republican to capture the state in a presidential contest was President Ronald Reagan in his 1984 re-election landslide.
Last week, as he has in the past, Cuomo downplayed talk of any 2016 run.
"Hillary Clinton is 'apparently' running for president of the United States, and I should also say Chris Christie is 'apparently' running for president of the United States," Cuomo told reporters, adding that "I, very apparently, am not."
The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted November 20-24, with 1,337 New York State voters questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.
The NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist College poll was conducted November 18-20, with 675 registered voters in the Empire State questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error for registered voters is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/26/ny-polls-cuomo-in-strong-2014-position-but-trails-clinton-in-2016-race/
