New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) reputation did not take much of a hit even after a report found he undercounted COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes, according to a poll released by the Siena College Research Institute.
The poll released on Tuesday found 61% of respondents approve of the way Cuomo is handling the pandemic down slightly from 63% last month.
Sixty-seven percent approve of the way he communicates with residents of New York and 61% believe he provides accurate information.
Respondents who weighed in on Cuomo’s nursing home cover up gave him negative marks.
Thirty-nine percent of voters believe he made data about deaths among nursing home patients public.
Democrats continue to commend Cuomo on his handling of the pandemic. Eighty-three percent of Democrats approve of his approach and 52% of Independents agree.
Seventy-two percent of Republicans, on the other hand, give him a bad grade.
He only gets a 54% approval rating from Democrats when it comes to making nursing home data public. Eighty-one percent of Republicans and 63% of Independents give him negative marks.
Little has changed from his 57% favorability rating in January. His favorability rating is now 56%.
In terms of job performance, his grade has dropped from 56% to 51%.
He admitted on Monday he should not have withheld the number of COVID-19 related nursing home deaths, as IJR reported.
Cuomo said during a press conference “lessons were learned” and things “should have been done differently.”
“The last thing I wanted to do was aggravate a terrible situation. There were people’s requests, press requests that were not answered in a timely manner,” he explained.
Some Democratic lawmakers are moving to strip the New York governor of his emergency powers, as IJR reported.
“While COVID-19 has tested the limits of our people and state — and, early during the pandemic, required the government to restructure decision making to render rapid, necessary public health judgments — it is clear that the expanded emergency powers granted to the Governor are no longer appropriate,” 14 Democrats said in a statement.
They continued, “While the executive’s authority to issue directives is due to expire on April 30, we urge the Senate to advance and adopt a repeal as expeditiously as possible.”
