Albany, NY – Spitzer’s Approval Rating Down, Except With Jewish Voters.

Albany, NY – Governor Eliot Spitzer’s favorability rating fell this month with a plurality of voters having an unfavorable view of him, according to a new Siena (College) Research Institute poll of registered voters released today. The Siena New York poll shows that voters continue to give the Governor a two-to-one negative job performance and twice as many voters say they would “prefer someone else” rather than re-elect Spitzer. When given three options for closing a potential state budget gap, more voters – nearly one-third – chose increasing taxes over cutting either education or health care spending.

“The way voters view Governor Spitzer is the same in February as it was last November. After a modest improvement last month, when more voters had a favorable view of the Governor, this month more voters view him unfavorably,” said Steven Greenberg, spokesman for the Siena New York Poll. “The falloff in his favorability rating was largely among Democrats, African American and Latino voters. The only demographic group with a majority having a favorable view of Spitzer is Jewish voters, at 53 percent.” [siena]