Paterson Drops in Marist Poll

UPDATE: Marist sent the wrong date in their press release. Changes throughout.

ALBANY—A poll taken yesterday this morning indicates Governor David Paterson's approval ratings have dropped six points after as a special session to bridge the state's mounting deficit ended with no action.

Take the whole cause-and-effect thing here with a large grain of salt. For one thing, it would be an awfully quick reaction to events, and for another, it assumes that the voters being polled have been following events in Albany as closely as we have. Probably not a good assumption.

Nevertheless, in a survey of 613 registered voters, the Marist Polling Institute found 51 percent said the governor was doing an excellent or good job, compared with 57 percent last month. (The margin of error is four percent)

The interim saw Paterson's first major defeat since taking office eight months ago, as he was unable yesterday to force legislators to agree on what steps could be taken immediately to cut spending in the face of a growing deficit.

The survey also found that voters showed an early preference for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to succeed Senator Hillary Clinton if she resigns her seat to take a job in Barack Obama's administration.

Full text of the poll here.