Governor Paterson

In today’s Quinnipiac poll, a majority of New York State voters agree with the governor’s order to recognize same-sex marriages. According to the latest poll released today, voters support Paterson’s decision 53 to 40 percent, but say he should not have been the one to make the decision. By 55 to 30 percent, they say the decision should be made by the state legislature. 

There is a big discrepancy along party lines, with 64 percent of Democrats supporting the governor’s order, while 57 percent of Republicans oppose it. More than 50 percent of Independents also said they support it. 

The poll found that 42 percent believe same-sex marriage should be legal, 31 percent favor civil unions, but not marriage, and 21 percent say there should be no legal recognition of same-sex unions. And while the majority of voters, 65 percent, surveyed approve of the job Paterson is doing, they would not necessarily re-elect him. 

When asked who they would like to see elected as governor in 2010, New York State voters picked Mayor Michael Bloomberg, four-percentage points ahead of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and seven points ahead of Governor David Paterson. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was a distant fourth. 

Quinnipiac surveyed nearly 1,400 voters between June 3rd and 8th. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.