New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s push for stricter gun control laws appears to have taken a toll on his approval rating among New York voters, according to the results of a Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday.
While a still-solid 59 percent of New York voters continue to approve of the way Cuomo is handling his job as Governor, the number is down sharply from an all-time high of 74 percent last month.
The poll was conducted after Cuomo helped push a series of controversial gun control measures through the New York state legislature in mid-January.
The measures include a stricter ban on assault weapons, a reduction in the maximum allowed capacity of gun magazines, and a provision allowing the police to confiscate guns owned by a mental health patient believed to be a threat to themselves or others.
The latest poll results show voters in households with a gun disapprove of Cuomo’s job performance by 50 percent to 40 percent. Voters in non-gun homes approve of the governor 68 percent to 19 percent.
Republican approval of the governor is now split 44 percent to 43 percent, while 68 percent approved of Cuomo’s job performance in the previous survey.
The poll showed that approval among Democrats also fell to 74 percent from 89 percent, while approval among independent voters dropped to 54 percent from 70 percent.
Thirty-four percent of New York voters, including 59 percent of Republicans, said the gun-control package signed by Cuomo goes too far in terms of restricting the rights of gun owners.
Another 30 percent said the measures do not go far enough in terms of protecting public safety, while an equal number said the changes are about right.
Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said, “With approval ratings that consistently topped 70 percent, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had the political capital to spend when he set out to pass the toughest gun control laws in the nation.”
“It is possible that the gun law cost him some of that political capital, but a 2-1 job approval rating still makes him the envy of most governors,” he added.
Carroll noted that Cuomo saw a similar drop in support after signing same-sex marriage legislation but eventually got it back.
The survey of 1,127 New York state voters was conducted from January 23rd through 28th and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
by RTT Staff Writer
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