Posted on 10/30/2006 6:24:45 AM PST by jmyrlefuller
Gov. George Pataki has nine weeks remaining in his final term, and a sizable number of Western New Yorkers are ready to say goodbye.
Thirty-one percent of local adults consider Pataki to be New York's worst governor since 1959, according to a new Business First-Goldhaber Research Associates Poll.
That's the highest negative rating for any governor since Nelson Rockefeller. The runner-up in the survey, Mario Cuomo, received about half as many unfavorable votes as Pataki did.
"At the end of the day, if people are unhappy, they're going to blame someone. Many Western New Yorkers are unhappy today, and they're blaming Gov. Pataki," says Arun Vishwanath, a research consultant with Goldhaber Research Associates, an Amherst polling firm.
The poll also asked local adults to pick the best governor of the past half-century. Cuomo was the clear choice, named by 36 percent of all respondents in the Buffalo area. The runners-up were Rockefeller and Pataki, each with about half the level of Cuomo's support.
"Cuomo gets a lot of bipartisan support across the board," says Vishwanath. "He's chosen by almost half of the Democrats, which isn't that surprising. But what's amazing is that he's also the favorite of a quarter of the Republicans."
Goldhaber Research Associates conducted a telephone survey of 600 randomly selected residents of Erie and Niagara counties between July 28 and Aug. 25. The poll had a margin of error of four percentage points.
Respondents were given the names of New York's five governors since 1959, and then were confronted with two choices.
The first question asked them to identify the governor they considered the best on the list. The second dealt with the flip side, asking them to choose the worst governor from the same group.
The results -- which are detailed in the chart on Page One and in the box above -- were driven by the twin factors of familiarity and economics.
The three leading votegetters on both sides of the survey -- Cuomo, Pataki and Rockefeller -- were also the three with the longest administrations. Cuomo and Pataki served three four-year terms, while Rockefeller was elected governor four times.
Cuomo's reputation throughout Western New York was enhanced by an economy that was generally strong by the region's standards. The Buffalo area added an average of 5,200 jobs per year during his administration, an annual gain of 1.0 percent.
Rockefeller also saw a local increase of 1.0 percent per year while he was governor. That rate translated to an additional 4,600 jobs in Western New York on an annual basis, about 600 below Cuomo's mark.
This record of growth, combined with Rockefeller's strong personality, had a surprisingly big impact on the poll's results.
"I was amazed at how strong his legacy is," says Vishwanath. "A lot of the people who chose Rockefeller as the best governor can't have many memories of him. Even someone who is 35 years old would have been two when he quit (in 1973). What could they possibly remember?"
The Pataki years, on the other hand, have largely been sluggish ones in the Buffalo area. The local employment base has expanded by an average of 1,100 jobs, or 0.2 percent, each year since the current governor took office.
Pataki, as a result, fared poorly with blue-collar workers in the poll. Forty-six percent of the men and women in that category named him the worst governor since 1959. Just 5 percent chose him as the best.
"When we talk about the working class, we're talking about people who are facing a job crunch," says Vishwanath. "They're seeing jobs leave the area. They want someone to be held responsible, and that person is Gov. Pataki."
It came as no surprise that Carey and Wilson finished at the bottom of both lists. Their administrations were the period's shortest -- Carey served eight years, Wilson slightly less than 13 months. And both men have been out of the political spotlight since the early 1980s.
"In the end, it comes down to name recognition, and these guys don't have it," says Vishwanath. "Wilson and Carey -- hardly anybody remembers who they were."
Please don't make me hurl. If this is true, I'm leaving this sad pathetic state as soon as possible.
They didn't feel that way in 1994 when Pataki beat Cuomo to become Governor.
When you leave you will be amazed at how much lower the taxes are in other parts of the country.
Upstate NY is beautiful, it is to bad it is dying because of all the industry leaving due to taxes, at least that is what I have seen in the Syracuse area.
Pataki is probably the best governor that New York ahs had since the 1950s, with the possible exception of the short-termer Malcolm Wilson.
That these are the best tells you how godawful it's been.
Why the h--- doesn't omeone (the GOP, the Conservative Party, somebody) come up with a candidate that would actually do a godo job instead of less bad?
Pataki is probably the best governor that New York ahs had since the 1950s, with the possible exception of the short-termer Malcolm Wilson.
That these are the best tells you how godawful it's been.
Why the h--- doesn't omeone (the GOP, the Conservative Party, somebody) come up with a candidate that would actually do a good job instead of less bad?
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