Poll finds voters optimistic state 'can be fixed'

ALBANY - Voters haven't given up on state government despite recent scandals, and more than six in 10 said Andrew Cuomo could remedy the problems, according to a poll released Monday.

The Siena Research Institute found 83 percent of registered voters, across all demographic groups, believe Albany's dysfunction "can be fixed if the right people are elected to office." Only 13 percent said state government was beyond repair.

Such optimism comes in the wake of three years of controversy, including the resignations of Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Comptroller Alan Hevesi and the corruption conviction of former State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

Asked to rate Cuomo, the presumed Democratic nominee for governor, 63 percent of voters said he "will help clean up the mess" in state government. Twenty-three percent said he was part of the problem and 14 percent had no opinion.

"While voters are very down on the current leadership of New York and strongly feel the state is headed in the wrong direction, there is a very real and very strong sense of optimism that Albany can improve," said pollster Steven Greenberg.

Among Republicans, 43 percent were undecided on the candidates vying for the party's gubernatorial nod.

Rick Lazio, who once represented Suffolk County in Congress, leads the field with 29 percent. Suffolk executive Steve Levy, a Democrat turned Republican, has 15 percent and Buffalo developer Carl Paladino, 13 percent.

Right now, Cuomo would beat any of the three Republicans by at least 35 percentage points, the poll indicates.

Still, voters have grown impatient for Cuomo, the son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo, to declare his candidacy for the state's top job. For the first time since Siena began asking the question last October, nearly half of voters said Cuomo should make a public announcement.

In the race for state comptroller, Democrat Thomas DiNapoli leads Repub-lican Harry Wilson, 42 percent to 19 percent, with 39 percent undecided.

The poll of 806 voters, conducted April 12-15, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 points.