Half of New York Voters Say Cuomo Shouldn’t Resign, Poll Shows

More New Yorkers believe that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has committed sexual harassment than not, but half of those surveyed say that he should not resign, according to a Siena College poll released on Monday.

Slightly more than a third of voters, 35 percent, said they believed the governor had committed sexual harassment, while 24 percent believed he had not, with the rest saying they were unsure, according to the poll, which was conducted in the second week of March.

Multiple women, including current and former aides, have accused Mr. Cuomo in the past few weeks of a range of inappropriate behavior, including sexual harassment and groping. The governor has repeatedly denied ever touching anyone inappropriately, and has apologized for comments he said may have made women feel uncomfortable.

In a survey of 805 registered New York State voters, 57 percent said they were satisfied with how Mr. Cuomo had addressed the allegations, while 32 percent said they were not. Fifty percent said he should not resign, while 35 percent said he should. Nearly half said they believed he could continue to do his job effectively as governor, with 34 percent saying he could not.

Even so, the governor’s favorability rating has plummeted to one of the lowest points of his decade-long tenure: Only 43 percent of voters said they had a favorable opinion of the governor, down from 56 percent last month.

The survey’s findings suggest Mr. Cuomo could have some breathing room, even as he faces a barrage of calls for his resignation from most of the top Democrats in the state.

A large number of voters, 60 percent of them, about the same as last month, said they approved of Mr. Cuomo’s response to the coronavirus pandemic when it came to providing accurate information, reopening the economy and the vaccine’s rollout.

However, 66 percent said they did not approve of the way in which his administration had handled data related to nursing home deaths.

Mr. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, faced daunting opposition to a possible bid for a fourth term next year: just 34 percent said they would support such a campaign, while 52 percent said they would “prefer someone else.”

There were several important caveats: It was largely conducted before a majority of the Democrats in New York’s congressional delegation, including most of its House members and Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, called on the governor to step down on Friday.

The poll also leaned heavily in the direction of Democratic voters, mirroring the state’s electorate: 48 percent of respondents were Democrats, while just 21 percent were Republicans and 27 percent were independents. The poll had a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.