In their daily virus TV briefing showdowns, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is beating President Trump and setting himself up as a potential surprise challenger in the muddled 2020 presidential race.
The latest evidence comes in a Zogby Analytics survey provided to Secrets that not only has Cuomo as the politician the nation most admires in the fight on the coronavirus, but also one in which every voter subgroup likes him.
By comparison, while half the country approves of the president’s job, Trump is underwater with groups he needs some support from to win a second term — independents and women.
In his analysis, pollster Jonathan Zogby said, “When it came to politicians, Gov. Andrew Cuomo was perceived most favorably at handling the pandemic. His daily news conferences have become the response to President Trump’s briefings, and the two have gone toe to toe on a number of occasions. Cuomo is currently winning the confrontations, and he has broad appeal — majorities of Republicans and conservatives, nationwide, rate his response to the crisis positively.”
Despite rumored efforts to draft Cuomo, the president isn’t running against him, and to the relief of the GOP, the president is in better shape in Zogby’s poll than Democratic rivals Sen. Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden.
But not by much and Zogby said that the race is essentially Trump’s to lose, depending on his long-term performance on the virus war.
“The president still has the support of his base, but he needs more crossover appeal. At this point, nearly half rate his response positively while a majority rates his response to the pandemic negatively,” said Zogby. “Trump will need to work harder to convince the American people he can win this ‘silent war,’” he said.
When asked who was handling the crisis better “mentally and physically,” Trump edged Biden 51%-49% among the 899 likely voters in the poll that had a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points. Sanders had a 44% positive rating.
But it is Cuomo who is poised as Trump’s greatest threat.
Compare the different subgroups for each and how they graded the virus performances of each, according to Zogby:
- Cuomo — “Cuomo received the highest rating for his handling of the pandemic and did very well across the board with all subgroups, especially among men (67% positive/33% negative), Democrats (71% positive/29% negative), independents (61% positive/39% negative), large city voters (69% positive/31% negative), millennials (63% positive/37% negative), Hispanics (67% positive/33% negative), voters whose household incomes are $150k+ (69% positive/31% negative), voters with college degrees (67% positive/33% negative), and voters living in the East (68% positive/32% negative). Majorities of voters who live in rural areas (58% positive/42% negative), Republicans (58% positive/43% negative), and conservatives (58% positive/42% negative) also rated his handling of the pandemic positively.”
- Trump — “Voters in the east (52% positive/48% negative) and south (57% positive/43% negative) rated Trump’s handling of the crisis positively while voters in the Central/Great Lakes (43% positive/57% negative) and West (41% positive/59% negative) rated his response to the COVID-19 crisis negatively. President Trump did best with millennials (52% positive/48% negative), voters aged 30-49 (55% positive/45% negative), men (56% positive/44% negative), weekly Walmart shoppers (54% positive/46% negative), weekly Amazon shoppers (57% positive/43% negative), Catholics (54% positive/46% negative), large city voters (50% positive/50% negative), voters whose household incomes are $35-50K (52% positive/48% negative) and $150k+ (57% positive/43% negative). A respectable number of Hispanics (56% negative/44% positive) approved of Trump’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. In contrast, women (43% positive/57% negative), younger voters aged 18-29 (41% positive/59% negative), older voters aged 65+ (49% positive/51% negative), independents (43% positive/57% negative), small-city voters (46% positive/55% negative), suburban voters (44% positive/56% negative), and suburban women (41% positive/59% negative) did not think highly of the president’s handling of the pandemic.”
