Metro

Weak GOP threat to Andy prez shot

A new poll from a respected Republican firm has senior Democrats worried that Gov. Cuomo is headed for a massive re-election victory next year — which could damage his chances to run for president in the process.

The poll, which was being intensely studied last week by Democratic operatives, reinforced the belief that if the governor faces a weak Republican opponent — such as Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino, who was crushed by Cuomo in 2010 — the contest will be discounted from the start by a national media focused on potential presidential candidates for 2016.

“Who in the national press corps is going to pay attention to Andrew’s re-election if he’s running against a bozo like Paladino?’’ asked a Democratic activist with ties to the governor.

“And even if it’s not Paladino but some other Republican no one ever heard of, what good does that do Andrew for the future?’’ the activist continued.

State Republicans privately concede they have no prominent figure to challenge Cuomo, and many within the party say the nomination could easily be won by the wealthy Paladino if he decides to enter the race.

Cuomo and other senior Democrats are so concerned about facing a weak Republican candidate for governor next year that they’ve been informally advising some in the GOP on steps to improve their chances — mainly by adopting more moderate positions on social issues, it was learned.

The new 451-page “benchmark,’’ poll of 600 likely voters — much more comprehensive than the surveys regularly released by Marist and Siena colleges and Quinnipiac University — was prepared by national GOP pollster John McLaughlin for the Manhattan-based Chiaroscuro Foundation at a cost of about $30,000. It mainly focused on the attitude of New Yorkers toward abortion.

But it also asked detailed questions about Cuomo and whether voters wanted Democrats or the GOP to control the state Senate, which is now run by an unusual coalition of 30 Republicans and five Democrats. The results were dismal for Republicans.

Cuomo’s popularity was sky-high in all but one region of the state, despite the dip he took in upstate areas over the dispute over gun-ownership restrictions.

Cuomo’s highest favorable rating, 80 percent, was, not surprisingly, in liberal Manhattan, but he was almost as popular, at 78 percent, in Nassau County, once a Republican stronghold. His positives even hit 76 percent in Erie County, Paladino’s home base and political stronghold in 2010.

Other strongly favorable numbers for Cuomo were in Suffolk County, 66 percent, also once solidly Republican, Westchester, 65 percent, and Monroe County (Rochester) 70 percent.

The governor’s weakest showings were in the Albany area — where his prudent fiscal policies have been repeatedly attacked by the public employee unions — with 44 percent favorable and 33 percent unfavorable, and in the economically hard-pressed Binghamton and Utica region, where his favorable/unfavorable rating was tied at 48.