Sheldon Silver. (Photo: Daniel Barry/Getty Images)

A slim majority of  New York voters think Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver should resign over his mishandling of the Vito Lopez sexual harassment scandal, according to a new poll out Wednesday, which also found most parents want their daughters steering clear of Albany.

The Quinnipiac poll found that 51 percent of those surveyed think Mr. Silver should step down from office, versus just 22 percent who feel he should remain. The feeling was especially high among men, suburban voters and Republicans.

Mr. Silver's approval rating also took a tumble because of the scandal, hitting its lowest point in the poll's history, with 52 percent disapproving of the job he's doing--up from 44 percent on April 17. Just 21 percent of voters polled think he' doing a good job, following a pair of blistering reports that showed he was more interested in deflecting press attention than investigating allegations that Mr. Lopez was sexually harassing young staff.

“The Vito Lopez sex scandal persuades a bare majority of New Yorkers that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver should step aside," pollster Maurice Carroll said in a statement.

Given all the lurid headlines, most New Yorkers told the pollsters they wouldn't want their daughters to intern for the State Legislature. "Not my daughter," said 58 percent of voters. Fathers were especially adamant, as were those with children under the age of 18, the survey found.

“With all the stories about the bad behavior in Albany, would you want your daughter to be a legislative intern?  A majority of voters say no,” Mr. Carroll said.

The poll also found that Gov. Andrew Cuomo's numbers have hit their lowest point to date, with 53 thinking he's doing a good job, versus 30 percent who say he isn't--his lowest net approval rating since he took office. Still, his approval rating stands at 68 percent among Democrats and 58 percent of all voters said he deserves to be re-elected, so his electoral standing remains relatively strong.

New Yorkers also remain skeptical of their government, however, with 67 percent saying the state government is "dysfunctional" and 86 percent saying corruption is a “very serious” or “somewhat serious” problem.

The poll of 1,075 New York State voters, conducted from May 29 through June 3, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Anthony Weiner. (Photo: Getty)

Former Congressman Anthony Weiner, who announced his highly-anticipated mayoral campaign in the wee hours of the morning today, has not managed to make up much ground in public polling since he floated his name a month ago. Indeed, his percentage in the Democratic primary--15 percent--is the exact same in today's Quinnipiac poll as the firm's April 19 survey.

According to new numbers out this morning, 49 percent of the electorate thinks Mr. Weiner should not run for mayor while just 38 percent say he should. Female voters in particular reacted with negativity at Mr. Weiner's return--52 percent said he shouldn't pursue his Gracie Mansion ambitions. This is despite Mr. Weiner's flurry of emotional television interviews seeking to soften his image in the aftermath of infamous two-year-old Twitter scandal.

“Should Weiner run? More, especially women, say no,” Maurice Carroll, the pollster's director, noted in a statement. “Weiner has been at 15 percent two polls in a row. Can he get to 16 percent?”

Overall, Mr. Weiner remains in second place, behind Council Speaker Christine Quinn, whose standing continues to slip. While several months ago Ms. Quinn was approaching the 40 percent threshold needed to avoid a run-off election, today she stands at just 25 percent. Two other candidates, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and 2009 nominee Bill Thompson, are tied with 10 percent apiece, and Comptroller John Liu is in fifth place with 6 percent.

“With former Congressman Anthony Weiner seeking the Democratic nod, it still looks like Council Speaker Christine Quinn against the guys,” Mr. Carroll said. “But where she once was brushing up against the magic 40 percent number that could get her past a run-off, the wear and tear of the campaign, and possibly the addition of Weiner, are taking a toll on the front-runner."

He added, “This poll says there’s a run-off. It just doesn’t say who’s in the runoff.”

View the full results below:

(Photo: Getty)

Governor Andrew Cuomo reached his all-time high job approval last month, with 74 percent of the state's voters telling Quinnipiac University that they approve of the governor's performance and only 13 percent taking the opposing position. As Mr. Cuomo himself predicted yesterday, however, his support dropped after he quickly pushed the passage of a new gun policy package earlier this month. He now stands at a still-respectable 59 - 28 approval rating.

In a Quinnipiac survey released this morning, Republicans appear to be a key factor in Mr. Cuomo's doubling disapproval number, likely due to the controversial gun control issue. Indeed, while only 34 percent of New Yorkers said the new legislation went “too far," 59 percent of the state's Republicans begged to differ. Mr. Cuomo's GOP approval fell from an astounding 68 - 18 percent on December 12--just two days before the Newtown massacre--to 44 - 43 today.

"Is Gov. Cuomo's honeymoon with Republicans over, or is this just a spat that can be patched up in the months ahead?" Maurice Carroll, the polling firm's director, asked in the press release announcing the new numbers. "Cuomo lost some Republican support after the 2011 same-sex marriage bill, but he got it back."

Despite Mr. Cuomo's hit among Republicans, Mr. Caroll argued the governor's overall support is far from shabby.

"With approval ratings that consistently topped 70 percent, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had the political capital to spend when he set out to pass the toughest gun control laws in the nation," the pollster said. "It is possible that the gun law cost him some of that political capital, but a 2-1 job approval rating still makes him the envy of most governors."

For his part, Mr. Cuomo predicted "anxiety" among gun-owners will go away and some of them will realize that the state's new gun laws are not as draconian as they feared.

“There’s also I would say a fair level of confusion if not anxiety,” he explained yesterday. “‘How does the law affect me? I’m a gun owner, what does it mean?’ And the law is technical and I think they have questions and I think that’s fueling the opposition now because it’s fueling the anxiety. I think when they actually find out about the law, it’s not going to be as bad as they think.”

Read more here.

(Photo: Getty)

Quinnipiac University Polling Institute is out with another survey of New York City voters today and Council Speaker Christine Quinn, with 35 percent of the vote, still posts a wide margin over her main Democratic rivals in the campaign for City Hall. Public Advocate Bill de Blasio came in second with 11 percent, followed by former Comptroller Bill Thompson at 10 percent and Comptroller John Liu's 9 percent.

"Council Speaker Christine Quinn still dominates the Democratic field," Maurice Carroll, the polling firm's director, said in a statement. “There is almost no gender gap for any candidate. For example, Quinn gets 36 percent of women and 34 percent of men, while Liu gets 10 percent of men and 9 percent of women."

The fact that Ms. Quinn leads isn't surprising since she held a similar number--32 percent--in Quinnipiac's November poll. Other than Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer dropping out of the field, there have been few significant developments in the race. Indeed, of the four Democrats polled, only Mr. Thompson has officially kicked off his campaign for  Gracie Mansion.

On the Republican side of the aisle, things have changed substantively since November, with former MTA Chairman Joe Lhota ramping up his mayoral efforts and receiving a relatively large amount of press coverage as a result. At 23 percent of the vote, Mr. Lhota now leads his primary, confining the other Republican candidates to single digits. In the general election, however, Mr. Lhota gets crushed--although slightly less painfully than in Quinnipiac's last poll that found Mr. Lhota trailing "Unnamed Democrat" 60 percent to 9 percent. In today's survey, Mr. Lhota holds roughly 18 percent in a match-up with leading Democrats, who have support ranging from 55 percent to 62 percent against him.

"The top three Democrats all thump Lhota. We limit the matchups to candidates who show some strength in their primaries," Mr. Carroll said. "New York City is a very blue city. Any Republican who wants to follow in the footsteps of Mayors Rudolph Giuliani or Michael Bloomberg will need to win lots of Democratic and independent voters."

Of course, it should be noted that polls taken this far out, especially of notoriously fluid multi-candidate primary fields, are mostly a test of name recognition, and the campaign itself is certain to shake things up once it is officially underway and voters are actually paying attention. Nevertheless, Ms. Quinn's dominating 64-18 percent approval rating among all of the city's voters is a serious challenge her opponents will have to surmount.

Read more here.

(Photo: Getty)

"Okay, the race for the White House is over and it's time to look at the New York City mayoral race, where the possibly decisive Democratic primary could be as early as June. The morning line? City Council Speaker Christine Quinn leaves the other Democratic contenders in the dust," Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a statement with his latest survey.

The numbers indeed show Ms. Quinn far ahead, with 32% support among registered Democrats, even as she faces off against two citywide elected officials, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Comptroller John Liu, and 2009's nominee, Bill Thompson. Mr. Thompson barely edged out Mr. de Blasio for the silver medal, 10 to 9 percent, with Mr. Liu standing at 5 percent.

(The survey was conducted before Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer dropped out of the race, but he took only 4 percent).

It's not exactly surprising that Ms. Quinn is ahead; she's led all recent polling, including last month's NY1/Marist survey.

However, it's important to keep in mind that multi-candidate primary races are incredibly fluid, as voters are far more likely to change their mind in a primary than the typical Republican vs. Democrat affair. Also, as the poll included all registered Democrats, it undoubtedly captured a wider audience than the more motivated electorate that will actually turn out come Election Day. Nevertheless, it's much better to be ahead than behind, and Ms. Quinn's rivals have a lot of work to do.

Two potential Republican candidates were also tested, M.T.A. Chairman Joe Lhota and former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión, and they distantly trailed in a question pitting them against a generic Democrat.

View below:

Indeed, 77 percent of New Yorkers described the problem of corruption as "very serious" or "somewhat serious," while only 2 percent said corruption is "not a problem at all." However, given the level of corruption in New York in recent years, it might be possible that 2 percent of the state's total population currently consists of public officials being investigated for criminal misconduct.

"Is legislative corruption a big deal? This poll echoes the headlines. New Yorkers don't like what they see," Maurice Carroll, director of Quinnipiac's polling operations, said in a statement.

Interestingly, when the firm last polled this question in October of 2007, it received the exact same 77 percent number, but with more New Yorkers describing the position as "somewhat serious," as opposed to "very."

When asked who should take the lead in fixing the problem, 54 percent of New Yorkers said Mr. Cuomo should handle it, while 32 percent said legislative leaders should take up the task. In addition, half of those polled said Mr. Cuomo is presently doing a decent job at corralling corruption, and 63 percent said the Legislature is failing at it.

"More New Yorkers say it's Gov. Andrew Cuomo's job to clean up the Legislature's house, and they give him pretty good marks for doing it," Mr. Carroll explained. "Thumbs down for legislative leaders."

View the full results below:

Governor Cuomo (Photo: Facebook)

A Quinnipiac University poll released today is sure to turn some heads in the education debate as it found New York State voters trust Governor Andrew Cuomo more than the teachers' union by a 50% to 38% margin “to protect the interests of New York State public school students.” This all comes as the state is in last-minute negotiations over teacher evaluations.

"The teachers' union is a political punching bag these days, and New York voters share that negative view," Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in the press release. "Support for the union isn’t high even in union households."

Indeed, while the poll found most New Yorkers have a positive opinion of teachers themselves, they also think by a 50% to 37% percent margin that their union plays a negative rather than a positive role in the state education system.

“New York City voters did not provide that level of trust for Mayor Michael Bloomberg when they told us they trusted the teachers’ union more than the mayor to look out for the kids," Mr. Carroll added.

The deadline for a deal between teachers and the Cuomo administration over a new teacher evaluation system is today. Gov. Cuomo has threatened to pull funding for school districts in places where a deal can't be reached.

While voters gave Mr. Cuomo a mediocre 45% approval rating for the way he has been handling education so far, his position goes way up when looking at Mr. Cuomo's specific reform proposals:

• 64% support for merit pay for “outstanding” teachers
• 67% support for making it easier to fire teachers
• 87% support for basing teacher layoffs on performance rather than seniority

View the full results below:

Mayor Bloomberg (Photo: Getty)

Mayor Michael Bloomberg blamed a recent poll showing a majority of New Yorkers disapprove of his handling of the schools on the United Federation for Teachers' ad campaign criticizing his record on education.

"Somebody goes and runs a bunch of ads every day on television, you can create exactly that poll," Mayor Bloomberg said.

The mayor went on to suggest he could turn around the numbers by buying his own ads.

"I guess I could go spend some money and reverse the poll, the press would love it," he said.

Last time the UFT took out ads against Mayor Bloomberg in March that's exactly what he did. At that time, the mayor opened a campaign committee to fund a $5.6 million campaign defending his record on schools complete with polling, mailings and TV ads. Mayor Bloomberg subsequently shut his committee in October, on the exact same day The Politicker wrote a story about its activities.

The poll, which was conducted by Quinnipiac University, found 61 percent of voters disapprove of Mayor Bloomberg's handling of the public school system. Quinnipiac's poll also showed 56 percent of voters trust the teachers union more than the mayor when it comes to protecting the interest of public school children. According to the poll, 57 percent of voters disapprove of mayoral control of city schools, which has been a major hallmark of Mayor Bloomberg's administration.

Interestingly, in spite of the negative numbers, Quinnipiac's findings weren't all bad for Mayor Bloomberg. The poll showed 59 percent of New Yorkers like Mayor Bloomberg as a person and 68 percent of voters say history will judge his tenure positively. It also found a majority of voters support Mayor Bloomberg's policies that have caused the most controversy with the UFT; merit pay for public school teachers and making it easier to fire underperforming teachers. Mayor Bloomberg pointed this out at his press conference today.

"A lot of this stuff is how you ask the question, but what was comforting is the public agreed with the individual policies of finding ways to reward the best teachers finding ways to help attract teachers from the best schools at the top of the class to come to teach in our school system," Mayor Bloomberg said.

Mayor Bloomberg also said it's clear things are going well in city schools.

"You know we're going in the right direction, our school system is a model for what should be done in the country. The president says so, the secretary of education says so," Mayor Bloomberg said. "You talk to people across this country, we don't do everything right, but no other city has incidentally the magnitude of the job in front of them that we have--1,100,000 kids with every kind of special need, every kind of background."

Mayor Bloomberg also said he doesn't allow popular opinion to guide his decisions.

"I've been doing this for 10 years. The job is not to find out what is popular and then go do it. The reason the city is an awful lot better than it was 10 years ago, and I think you'd be really hard pressed to find any part of the city that isn't, is because we've always done what we think is right," Mayor Bloomberg said. "When we've done it and it didn't work, we felt comfortable in changing it. Even when somebody writes 'failure' or 'flip flop,' we're not going to get married to any one thing."

Mayor Bloomberg plans to stick with that approach for the remainder of his final term at City Hall.

"We're going to keep doing that for the next one year and ten-and-three-quarter months, if my math is correct," he said.

Governor Andrew Cuomo (Getty)

Governor Andrew Cuomo may have managed to sell his tax code overhaul to Albany lawmakers, but voters aren't so sure about the plan. However, the lukewarm reaction to the tax plan hasn't affected the governor's approval rating. According to a new Quinnipiac poll, 68% of New Yorkers approve of the job the governor is doing, but only 38% of voters gave a thumb's up to the state's new tax rates.

Just 17% of voters disapprove of the governor and voters from all sides of the aisle gave him high marks. Among Democrats, his approval rating stands at 71%, with independents it's at 69% and among Republicans it's 63%. Despite Governor Cuomo's high numbers, pollsters found that just 38% of voters approve of the governor's new tax plan while 34% disapprove and 28% remain undecided.

The tax code overhaul, which was passed by the Legislature earlier this month will raise rates for New Yorkers who make more than $2 million a year, but the Quinnipiac poll found that 40% of voters consider the plan a tax hike. Governor Cuomo managed to introduce and shore up support for the plan in a matter of days in a move that was hailed by many as a political masterstroke, but Quinnipiac University Polling Institute director Maurice Carroll speculates that same speed left many voters unsure about the overhaul.

“The speed in changing the state tax code has left a lot of New Yorkers confused. Most of the state is divided on the merits, with New York City voters more negative than not,” Mr. Carroll said.

Governor Cuomo's approval rating stands at just 59% among New York City voters compared to 71% upstate and 76% in the suburbs. Many voters think they are getting a raw deal from Governor Cuomo's--43% think the plan is unfair to to them and that same percentage said the rate increase for those making over $2 million salaries wasn't high enough. Voters also complained of broken promises--47% said Governor Cuomo violated his pledge not to raise taxes and 42% believe the rapid passage tax deal went back on the governor's vow to end government by "three men in a room" in Albany.

Despite voters' complaints about the tax plan, Governor Cuomo is still clearly quite popular.

“Whatever they think about the tax deal, New Yorkers still love their governor. Andrew Cuomo’s job approval hits a new high, higher than we’ve seen since the post-9/11 approval ratings for Governor George Pataki,” Mr. Carroll said.

John Liu

A new Qunnipiac poll released today finds New York City Comptroller John Liu's approval rating dropped 12 points last month after one of his fundraisers was caught in an FBI sting allegedly directing illegal donations to Mr. Liu's mayoral campaign. According to Quinnipiac, 38% of New Yorkers approve of the job Mr. Liu's doing compared to 50% in mid-October.

“New York City Comptroller John Liu has been in the news a lot, in a bad way.  All those negative stories about his fundraising have zapped his job-approval numbers,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute,

The poll found disapproval of Mr. Liu also jumped 12 points in the past month going from 23 percent to 35 percent. Back in May, Mr. Liu's approval rating was at a high of 57 percent and his disapproval rating was just 14 percent.

Federal investigators say Oliver Pan confessed to fraud after he was taped by an undercover FBI agent promising to direct $16,000 in contributions to Mr. Liu through a network of "straw donors" who would each give small amounts. The maximum donation allowable by law is $4,950. Mr. Liu has pledged to return $13,600 in donations associated with Mr. Pan.

Mr. Liu, who was elected in 2009, is considered a likely mayoral candidate for 2013. The poll found that his standing among the other prospective candidates hasn't changed much. He's still near the back of the pack with 9 percent.