ALBANY – Gov. Cuomo’s job approval rating dropped faster than a speeding bullet this month as Republicans and gun owners started turning against him after he rammed through the nation’s first post-Newtown gun control law, a new poll has found.
Democrat Cuomo’s approval marks slid from 74-13 percent last month to 59-28 in the Quinnipiac poll out today — a day after the New York-affiliate of the National Rifle Association filed a notice of claim to sue to stop enforcement of the law, arguing it unconstitutionally deprives New Yorkers of their rights.
While voters in non-gun homes still gave Cuomo thumbs up by a whopping 68-19, those who live in households with guns turned against him by 50-40, the Jan. 23-28 telephone survey of 1,127 state voters found.
Cuomo himself had predicted the slide during a radio interview yesterday with Post columnist Fredric U. Dicker on Albany’s Talk 1300 AM radio.
He said today he wasn’t surprised.
“I understand the sensitivity; I understand the fear,” he told reporters. Many gun owners are “afraid you’re taking their guns away. That is not the case with the law we passed. It had nothing to do with legitimate gun ownership.
“We are not here to duck the tough issues,” he said, sitting next to legislative leaders after a 90-minute meeting with them at the Capitol on other issues. “We are here to take on the tough issues.”
Though the poll asked respondents about controversial 2013 issues Cuomo outlined in his State of the State speech earlier this month – results are expected tomorrow – Cuomo said he thought the gun law was solely responsible for his popularity drop.
While Republicans gave Cuomo a 68-18 percent approval mark in a Quinnipiac survey Dec. 12 — two days before a crazed gunman killed 20 first-graders and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. — the GOP is virtually evenly split on the governor now.
Support for Cuomo dropped across the board. His approval rating among independents fell from 70-12 to 54-32, among Democrats from 82-9 to 74-14, among women from 73-12 to 64-23 and among men from 74-14 to 54-33.
Some 34 percent of voters – and 59 percent of Republicans – said Cuomo’s law goes “too far” in restricting gun owners’ rights, while 30 percent of all voters said it doesn’t go far enough in protecting public safety.
But another 30 percent of voters, including 20 percent of Republicans, say the law is “about right.”
Cuomo shouldn’t necessarily worry, according to Quinnipiac’s poll director.
“With approval ratings that consistently topped 70 percent, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had the political capital to spend when he set out to pass the toughest gun control laws in the nation,” Maurice Carroll said. “It is possible that the gun law cost him some of that political capital, but a 2-1 job approval rating still makes him the envy of most governors.”
Carroll also noted Cuomo lost some GOP support after legalizing gay marriage in 2011 but “got it back.”
And voters gave strong approval to a key element of the gun law: a requirement that mental health professionals report potentially dangerous patients to police for possible confiscation of weapons. Democrats backed that provision 76-19, Republicans by 71-24 and independents 71-23.
And by 56-32 percent voters rejected the argument that fewer mentally ill people will seek help because of the new gun law.
Additionally, voters by 48-40 percent said stricter gun laws will do more to reduce gun violence in school than armed guards – as the NRA proposed.
Quinnipiac found voters in blue New York by 46-22 percent have an unfavorable opinion of the NRA leadership.
The poll also found a slight dip in job approval ratings for President Obama (57-39 percent, from 62-35 last month) and US Sens. Chuck Schumer (60-30, down from 63-23) and Kirsten Gillibrand (57-21, down from 61-18).
The poll has a a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.