New Yorkers Believe Paterson Should Finish His Term, Two of Three Polls Find

Two polls found a majority of New Yorkers believe Gov. David Paterson should finish out his term despite overwhelmingly negative job approval ratings and revelations that he tried to influence an assault case involving one of his aides. A third poll had New Yorkers narrowly in favor of Paterson resigning.

A Quinnipiac University poll conducted March 1-2 found that 61 percent said he should stay, while 31 percent said he should resign, with 9 percent undecided.

Sixty-two percent -- including 58 percent of Democrats -- disapproved of the way Paterson is doing his job, while 24 percent approved and 15 percent were undecided. In early February, that disapproval ratio was 54 percent to 37 percent with 8 percent undecided.

Quinnipiac's Maurice Carroll cautioned that continuing revelations about Paterson's conduct could change the picture. "There was a noticeable slip in support from the first night to the second night of the survey, after more damaging news came out and the National Organization for Women called for the governor to step down," he said.

The head of the New York chapter of NOW, Marcia Pappas, said the disclosures about Paterson were "very disappointing for those of us who believed the governor was a strong advocate for women's equality and for ending violence against women."

The latest New York Times story said that a state worker who was friendly with both the governor and a woman who said she was assaulted by one of his top aides, David Johnson, was told by Paterson to convey a message to accuser: "Tell her the governor wants her to make this go away."

A Rasmussen Reports poll conducted March 1 had 53 percent saying Paterson should not resign while 28 percent believed her should, with 19 percent undecided.

A SurveyUSA poll conducted March 2 said 47 percent believed Paterson should resign while 44 percent said he should stay in office, with 9 percent undecided. Forty-eight percent of Democrats favored resignation. The margin of error is 4.3 points.

Sixty-four percent in the SurveyUSA poll disapproved of the job he was doing and 27 percent approved, with 8 percent undecided. Sixty-nine percent did not have confidence in Paterson's ability to lead the state while 26 percent did, with 6 percent undecided.

Quinnipiac polled registered voters; Rasmussen surveyed likely voters; and the SurveyUSA poll was of adults in general.

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