Why is andrew cuomo so popular

A student of power in an inherently powerful position, Cuomo led a fractious and factional state almost without question, marginalizing and belittling his critics along the way. Cuomo was never someone who seemed interested in money, even as his gubernatorial salary grew during his time in office. He was more interested in a different kind of accumulation: Power.

Cuomo held power over the vast political bureaucracy of New York, held power over individual people, held power over a Legislature he would insist is not "a debating society" whenever the brakes would be pumped on his desired goals. Now Cuomo is leaving office amid allegations he sexually harassed multiple women and that his administration hid nursing home fatality data during the COVID pandemic.

The arc has finally bent back on the governor himself, reversing a power dynamic he has benefitted from for his entire adult life. George Pataki. He also left a template for future governors for how to use the levers of government for political gain and public theater. Supporters of the governor say Cuomo at his best knows what levers to pull to things done.

Indeed, Cuomo himself over the years has stacked up his state budgets approved before the April 1 deadline as a totemic metric of success. Critics allege he's a bully, a secretive and cynical wielder of backroom leverage that masked deep dysfunction. Cuomo learned political and power dynamics first hand from his father, volunteering for Mario Cuomo's failed campaign for mayor of New York City in , the summer of Sam and the year the Bronx burned.

What the younger Cuomo did not learn from his father, a soaring orator, he would learn from President Bill Clinton in the hothouse politics of Washington DC in the s.

During Cuomo's stint as housing secretary in the Clinton cabinet, the president would face a sex scandal of his own. At the time, power dynamics between a president and a young intern were questioned, but it would take another generation before a reckoning would occur over how society views harassment and workplace misconduct.

In , Cuomo would seek to avenge the electoral loss of his father, launching an ill-fated gubernatorial campaign to take on Pataki, a Republican. Cuomo, never so powerless, groused at a news conference it was his aides who misled him. Cuomo ran head long into failure. Democrats found him too abrasive. He accused Pataki of holding Rudy Giuliani's coat during the Sept. He dropped out of the race before the primary was held, blaming his staff for bad advice.

His marriage disintegrated, with the sordid details playing out in New York City's tabloid press. By , he was launching a comeback. This Andrew was not the Andrew of He was chastened, the rough edges smoothed off. He handily won a race for attorney general, an office that had grown in stature under Eliot Spitzer. Cuomo promptly used the perch to tackle issues like student loan debt. The attorney general years were a foreshadowing of Cuomo as governor: Taking an inherently powerful job and somehow ratcheting that power to the nth degree.

And he would investigate Spitzer, issuing a scathing report of a classically Byzantine Albany scandal that was Troopergate. When Spitzer self-immolated in a prostitution scandal, Cuomo would also investigate David Paterson.

An ally of Cuomo's, Larry Schwartz, would take over the role of secretary to the governor, giving Cuomo what amounted to a prime minister-in-waiting as he prepared to take office in At the time, New York and the rest of the country was in the throes of the Great Recession. The tea party-infused Republican Party was encouraging a revolt against government spending and taxes. Cuomo's handling of the coronavirus has, without exaggeration, flipped public opinion about him in, roughly, six weeks.

In fact, it's a turnaround that not even George W. Bush experienced in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. But, even before the cataclysm of September 11, Bush was in mildly positive territory with the American public. Cuomo was seen as doing a good job by just 1 in 3 New Yorkers before the coronavirus hit. Read More.

Now, 7 in 10 approve of the job he is doing. Cuomo has insisted he isn't focused on poll numbers as he continues to fight the virus in his state, which has more than , confirmed cases of coronavirus with more than 23, New Yorkers dead.

But, Trump has taken notice of the New York governor's remarkable ratings -- and even sought to take credit for them himself. That, like many analyses offered by Trump, gives the President far too much credit.

Cuomo's poll numbers have far less to do with Trump and far more to do with the governor's everywhere-all-the-time approach to dealing with the coronavirus crisis. Cuomo's daily press briefings on the state of the state's fight against the virus have become must-see TV -- as Cuomo ranges from stern father to loving counselor to frank friend and back. Andrew Cuomo D announced that he would resign effective August Between December and August , a series of events unfolded involving Cuomo that resulted in calls for his impeachment or resignation from office.

He said on August 10, "Given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to governing. Cuomo was the ninth governor of New York to resign from office and the th governor in the nation's history to do so.

Click here for more information. The report stated that many nursing home residents died from COVID in hospitals after they were transferred from nursing homes and that these deaths were not reflected in the Department of Health's count of nursing home deaths.

On February 17, the F. Attorney's office began an investigation of the actions of Cuomo's task force in relation to the handling of nursing homes during the COVID pandemic. Cuomo said about the timing of the release of nursing home fatality data, "More than anything it was just a capacity issue.

Between December and April 7, , at least 11 women accused Cuomo of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior. In February, James announced that her office would be conducting an investigation into the accusations. On August 3, James released the investigation report , stating that Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women, breaking state and federal laws in doing so. The report's executive summary read, in part, that Cuomo "sexually harassed a number of current and former New York State employees by, among other things, engaging in unwelcome and nonconsensual touching, as well as making numerous offensive comments of a suggestive and sexual nature that created a hostile work environment for women.

Cuomo responded to the report's release, stating: "I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances. I am 63 years old. I have lived my entire adult life in public view. Phil Murphy D-N. After the attacks in Paris, France, on November 13, , many U.

Cuomo expressed support for the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the state of New York. He said:. Following the December 14, , school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, Gov. Cuomo sought to make firearms policy a legislative priority in The legislation included restrictions on ammunition and the sale of guns, as well as provisions to keep guns from people with mental illness who made threats. As a part of the legislation passed following the Newtown shooting, provisions were put into place that expanded bans on certain types of weapons and high-capacity magazines.

The memorandum was signed by the Cuomo administration and the Senate's Republican leadership. I believe the law should be followed and implemented as intended. Gianaris D , the deputy Senate minority leader, said the agreement was unconstitutional. Republicans characterized the agreement as a win for Second Amendment rights in the state. Cuomo's office stated the memorandum only codified an already existing delay in the implementation of the database provision in the SAFE Act and had no impact on the law.

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Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update. Cuomo was married to Kerry Kennedy, the seventh child of Robert F. Kennedy, for 13 years until they divorced in They have three children together. New York voted for the Democratic candidate in all five presidential elections between and Ballotpedia identified counties that voted for Donald Trump R in after voting for Barack Obama D in and Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than , votes.

Of these counties, 18 are located in New York, accounting for 8. In , Ballotpedia re-examined the Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. What's on my ballot? Elections in How to vote How to run for office Ballot measures.

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