Laughing at us, not with us
Laughing at us, not with us
Marist's new poll of New York's gubernatorial race is the first since the Sept. 9 primary, and of course it still shows Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo winning. But Cuomo's 54 percent share is the lowest he's ever seen in a traditional poll (YouGov last gave him 52), and it's down from the 59 Marist gave him in July—and from the 65 Marist found in February.
That suggests Cuomo's standing has indeed taken a hit since his weak primary showing against the unheralded Zephyr Teachout, and indeed, he's only earning the support of 75 percent of Democrats now, compared to 81 percent in July. A similar proportion of independents have abandoned the governor, too.
So where have they gone? Some have drifted to Republican Rob Astorino, who still sits at just 29 percent of the vote (though that's up from 24 last time). But others have gone over to Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins, if you can believe it, who now takes an outsize 9 percent, up from 6 in July. If Hawkins remains an outlet for discontented liberals, then Cuomo's Election Day performance could fall embarrassingly short of expectations.
It also shows that the Working Families Party had little to fear from refusing to cross-endorse Cuomo. If the Greens, who lack any serious infrastructure, can so easily be assured of winning the 50,000 votes they need to keep their ballot line for the next four years, then surely the well-organized WFP could have easily done so. Instead, they sided with Cuomo, who's utterly gone back on his word to help Democrats retake the state Senate:
The event Friday was the latest in a string of Cuomo comments and appearances that seem at odds with the promise he made to the Working Families Party last May in exchange for the party’s endorsement, to help his party take over the majority in the State Senate. (Cuomo, who quietly played a key role in the formation of the the Republican-Independent Democratic coalition that kept the regular Democrats in the Senate minority, had previously avoided committing to any such goal.)
With just six weeks left until the general election, Cuomo has yet to begin campaigning in person for Senate Democrats. And he remains noncommittal on the issue of endorsements.
This was so predictable, yet a lot of people engaged in a lot of wishful thinking to imagine it wouldn't be. The best these naifs can hope for now is that Democrats win in spite of Cuomo, and that he turns in another poor performance on Nov. 4.
But we were never fooled, and we can do more. Please contribute $4 to the four real Democrats running for state Senate in New York. Let's take back the Senate and turn New York blue in spite of Andrew Cuomo's reactionary ways.
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