Andrew Cuomo
Pollsters: If Cuomo really wants to be president, he should forget a third term
Photo by John Williams
Pundits have long speculated that Gov. Andrew Cuomo will enter the presidential race in 2020. But if the son of the famously indecisive almost-candidate really wants to be president, two polling experts say he should give up on becoming a third-term governor. In the second half of their conversation with the Slant podcast, Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, and Steve Greenberg of the Siena College Research Institute discussed why Cuomo’s sinking popularity in New York could be a bad omen for his national ambitions.
“If he asked me, ‘If I wanted to run for president in 2020, should I run for re-election next year or not?’ I would say, ‘No, don’t, you’re better off running for president without being governor,’” Greenberg said.
“If he wants to run for president, he has nothing to gain from winning the governorship, or not, and he has a lot to lose,” Miringoff agreed.
The pollsters believe that Cuomo’s sinking numbers, which are tied to his response to New York City’s subway crisis, and the possibility of a Democratic primary challenger could only hurt his standing on the national stage.
Miringoff and Greenberg also discussed who those challengers could be, the political ramifications of the “summer of hell,” and the methodology behind why and when pollsters ask certain questions.
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