Spitzer
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - Voters in New York would rather have Eliot Spitzer as their governor than current Gov. David Paterson, a poll recently conducted by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion.
The poll, released Monday, shows 51 percent of voters prefer Spitzer, the former attorney general and governor who resigned amid a prostitution scandal, to Paterson. Paterson replaced Spitzer in March 2008, and only 38 percent would vote for him over his predecessor.
Current Attorney General Andrew Cuomo may gain the most from Paterson's decline in popularity. An April Quinnipiac University poll showed Cuomo would defeat Paterson in next year's Democratic gubernatorial primary 61 percent to 18.
Fifty-three percent of voters also said Paterson should announce now that he won't run for election.
The Monday poll ranked Cuomo as the most popular politician in the state.
Seventy percent of those polled say he is doing an excellent or good job.
From Legal Newsline: Reach John O'Brien by e-mail at john@legalnewsline.com.