Poll: Obama's rating low with state voters

ALBANY - President Barack Obama's favorability rating with New York State voters is at an all-time low, with nearly half saying they would vote for someone else rather than re-elect him in 2012, according to a poll released Monday.

The Siena College Research Institute found 55 percent of registered voters have a favorable view of Obama, a Democrat, while 42 percent view him unfavorably. These are his worst grades since he entered the White House in January 2009.

"For the first time, a majority of independent voters now view Obama unfavorably," said pollster Steven Greenberg. "Over the last month, he's also lost ground with Democrats, New York City voters, young voters and liberals."

In the 2008 presidential election, Obama beat Republican John McCain, 62 percent to 37 percent in the state.

Asked whom they would cast ballots for today, only 43 percent of voters statewide said Obama while 47 percent would prefer someone else. More than 80 percent of Republicans and 50 percent of independents said they wanted someone else while only 62 percent of Democrats planned to back the president's re-election.

By almost 2-1, voters said the nation and state were both headed in the wrong direction.

However, Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, scored better on favorability than Obama.

Cuomo, the state attorney general, is viewed favorably by 66 percent of voters and unfavorably by 25 percent. But asked about his preparations to become governor next month, 43 percent said he was doing either a good or excellent job while 39 percent said either fair or poor.

Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto declined to comment directly on the latter. But he released a statement from Cuomo noting voters back his agenda for a property tax cap, economic development and strong rules for governmental ethics.

The poll of 806 registered voters, conducted Dec. 6-8, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.