Majority of NY voters fail Cuomo on reporting of COVID nursing home deaths: survey

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Son of nursing home victim rips Cuomo: 'What he doesn't like about Trump is exactly who he is'

Peter and Daniel Arbeeny, sons of a nursing home victim, demand Gov. Andrew Cuomo apologize for underreporting coronavirus-related nursing home deaths.

A majority of New Yorkers disapprove of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of reporting nursing home deaths amid continuing controversy over an alleged cover-up by his administration -- although overall approval of his handling of the pandemic remains high.

The Siena College poll of New York state voters found that only 39% approved of his handling of making public data related to nursing home deaths while 55% disapprove.

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Cuomo has been under fire for his handling of nursing homes in the early days of the pandemic -- specifically a March 25 order that required nursing homes to take in COVID patients. But the controversy exploded last week after it emerged that a top Cuomo aide told Democrats that the administration "froze" amid an investigation from the Justice Department.

"Because then we were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation," aide Melissa DeRosa said in remarks first reported by the New York Post.

Those remarks came after a damning report by state Attorney General Letitia James that found the state undercounted nursing home deaths by as much as 50%.

The poll was conducted between Feb 7-11, so mostly before the Post's story dropped on Feb. 11, but after the dropping of the report by the Attorney General's office.

However, the new Siena poll shows that, despite the controversy over the nursing home data, Cuomo’s approval ratings on the pandemic more broadly remain solid in the Empire State. The poll found that voters approve of his handling 61-34, down only slightly from 63-32 last month. Voters also approved of Cuomo's communication (67%) and providing accurate information (61%.)

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Voters are less positive of Cuomo's handling of the vaccine rollout -- 48% approve while 49% disapprove.

Meanwhile, the governor's job approval rating overall is at 51%, down from 56% in January. Meanwhile, looking forward, 46% say they are prepared to re-elect him if he runs in 2022, while 45% would prefer someone else.

Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi pointed to the broader favorability ratings for the governor in a statement.

"New Yorkers saw with their own two eyes how Governor Cuomo worked day and night to get us on the other side of this pandemic," he said. "There are politics and then there are facts and the facts in this poll shows the governor's favorability is rock solid and virtually unchanged and, nearly a year in, an overwhelming majority of New Yorkers approve of his handling of the pandemic."

Cuomo sought to clarify his team’s actions at a press conference on Monday, telling reporters that the Department of Justice and state legislatures submitted requests for data at the same time last summer. Cuomo said his team opted to prioritize the federal inquiry and informed state lawmakers their request for data would be "paused" in the meantime.

"We gave precedence to the DOJ. We told the assembly that, we told the Senate that and that's what we did. We were also in the midst of managing a pandemic," Cuomo said.

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Cuomo said any disconnect between his office and state lawmakers was the result of a "breakdown in communication between the staff and members of the legislature." 

But the remarks seem unlikely to limit the controversy, which has seen Republicans calling for charges and further investigations and a number of state Democrats calling for Cuomo to be stripped of his emergency powers.

New York state Sen. Jessica Ramos, a Democrat, called Cuomo "trash" and pushed back against Cuomo’s claims.

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"At no point did the Administration notify the legislature about a DOJ investigation," she tweeted. "People died and Cuomo lied then he had the gall to write a book."