As criticism of Governor Andrew Cuomo from politicians continues to mount, a poll released Monday by Siena College shows voters say he should not resign, by a tally of 50 to 37 percent, and 57 percent say they are satisfied with the way he has addressed the sexual harassment allegations against him.

“Nearly two-thirds of Republicans say Cuomo should resign; however, 61 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of independents, a plurality, say he should not,” said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg in an analysis as the survey results were released. “A majority of New York City voters and a plurality of voters from both upstate and the downstate suburbs say he should not resign.”

Coumo told reporters Friday in a conference call that he has no intention of resigning in the midst allegations from six women of sexual harassment.

“Women have a right to come forward and be heard ….,” Cuomo said. “There is still a question of the truth. I did not do what has been alleged. Period.”

He said of an investigation overseen by Attorney General Letitia James and a separate investigation being conducted by a committee in the State Assembly that is considering impeachment, “No one wants them to happen more quickly and more thoroughly than I do. Let them do it.”

Cuomo said that he had been under public scrutiny since he was 23 and the people of the state had known him for over 40 years and that he would continue to serve the people who had elected him. “That is my job,” he said.

On Wednesday, March 4, when he apologized for unintentionally acting “in a way that made people feel uncomfortable,” Cuomo said he would not resign. “I work for the people of New York,” he said.

New York’s senators, Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, both Democrats, have called for his resignation as have most of the state’s congressional delegation.

On Friday, Congressman Paul Tonko, a Democrat representing the Capital Region, who had earlier called for an investigation, joined the chorus of lawmakers calling for Cuomo to resign.  “It has become clear the governor has lost the public trust needed to effectively lead this state,” Tonko said.

“Serious allegations should be weighed seriously …. There are facts and then there are opinions …,” Cuomo responded to reporters on Friday. “Politicians who don’t know a single fact yet form a conclusion and an opinion are in my opinion reckless and dangerous.”

Voters in the Siena poll said, despite the ongoing investigations, Cuomo can continue to effectively do his job as governor by 48 percent to 34 percent.

“A strong majority of Democrats and a plurality of independents say he can govern effectively, while two-thirds of Republicans disagree,” said Greenberg in his analysis. “Voters outside of New York City are closely divided; however, a strong majority of New York City voters say he can effectively do his job.” 

One-third of voters say that Cuomo has committed sexual harassment, one-quarter say he has not, and a plurality — 41 percent — are unsure, the Siena poll found.

The poll also found that voters’ approval of Cuomo’s handling of the pandemic had hardly changed from last month: 60 percent approved and 33 percent did not.

Cuomo received positive grades on four specifics related to the pandemic: communicating, providing accurate information, reopening plans, and managing the vaccine rollout.

However, when it comes to making COVID-related nursing-home death data public, voters gave Cuomo a negative grade, 27 percent to 66 percent.

On the way Cuomo has handled the allegations of sexual harassment, two-thirds of Democrats are satisfied, as are 56 percent of independents; 57 percent of Republicans are not satisfied. Fifty-four percent of men and 59 percent of women say they are satisfied with the way he has addressed those allegations.

Cuomo has lost ground in running for a fourth term, the poll found. Thirty-four percent of voters say they are prepared to re-elect Cuomo if he runs for re-election in 2022 and 52 percent say they would “prefer someone else,” down from the split of 46 percent to 45 percent in February.

If Cuomo were to resign or be impeached, he would be succeeded by Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. Siena polled her for the first time statewide and found she has a 23 percent to 14 percent favorability rating while 64 percent of those polled have never heard of her or don’t know enough to have an opinion.

Meanwhile, Attorney General James, a Democrat who issued the Jan. 28 report that found more nursing-home residents died of COVID-19 than data from the state’s health department reflected and is currently overseeing the investigation into the sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo, polled at her highest favorability rating ever.

Forty percent of voters gave her a favorable rating compared to 14 percent who gave her an unfavorable rating while 46 percent didn’t know or had no opinion.

Carl Heastie, the Assembly Speaker who formed a committee to investigate impeachment of Cuomo, also got his highest ever favorability rating at 16 percent; his unfavorable rating was 14 percent and 71 percent didn’t know or had no opinion.

Only 3 percent of voters didn’t know or had no opinion on Cuomo’s job performance.

Seventeen percent gave him an excellent rating, 29 percent said he was doing a good job, 22 percent said a fair job, while 30 percent said he was doing a poor job.

Another high was recorded for voters who think sexual harassment in the workplace is a very significant problem: 49 percent. Thirty-nine percent think it’s somewhat significant, 10 percent said it’s not very significant, 3 percent think it’s not at all significant, and 6 percent don’t know or don’t have an opinion.