More Bad News for David Paterson in Latest N.Y. Gubernatorial Poll

David Paterson may be firm in his insistence that he will run for a full term as New York governor in 2010 despite President Obama asking him to drop out, but he will find no comfort in yet another poll that shows New Yorkers view him as ineffective and that they overwhelmingly prefer someone else as the state's chief executive.

Seventy-one percent of voters say they would prefer someone else as governor, up three points from August, according to a Siena Research Institute survey conducted Sept. 13-17. Democratic voters favor Attorney General Andrew Cuomo over Paterson by 66 percent to 20 percent.

Former Republican Rep. Rick Lazio announced today he is running for governor, and perhaps the only consolation for Paterson in the poll is that he actually leads Lazio, 39 percent to 35 percent. The margin of error is 3.5 points. Lazio lost to Hillary Clinton in the 2000 U.S. Senate race. His problem is still being relatively unknown, with 53 percent of voters having no opinion of him when asked if they view him favorably or unfavorably.

If former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani were to join the race, he'd beat Paterson, 52 percent to 35 percent. Cuomo leads Giuliani in the poll by 52 percent to 39 percent and Lazio by 64-18.

Paterson is seen unfavorably by a 59 percent to 29 percent margin, a seven-point negative swing since last month. Thirty-nine percent say he is doing a poor job, 41 percent rate him as fair and 16 percent as good, about the same as August. Seventy-three percent describe Paterson as well-intentioned but not getting the job done and 63 percent say he doesn't have the necessary leadership skills to be governor.

Cuomo is seen favorably by a 66 percent to 21 percent margin, and 47 percent of voters would like to see him run for governor compared to 34 percent who prefer he seek re-election as attorney general. Giuliani's favorable-to-unfavorable ratio is 56 percent to 38 percent.