Voters asked: Should Cuomo run for the White House?

ALBANY -- Approval ratings for Gov. Andrew Cuomo are up, but New Yorkers do not want him running for president in 2020, a Quinnipiac University poll said Wednesday.

More than half of the voters surveyed, 52 percent, did not think Cuomo would make a good president, despite the same number indicating that they approve of the job he is doing as governor.

While many would like Cuomo to stay out of the White House, 57 percent of voters said they would like the Democratic governor to become a national leader who challenges the policies of the Trump Administration, the poll said.

“Use the bully pulpit against President Donald Trump, governor, but stay out of Washington – that’s the mixed message that New Yorkers have for Gov. Andrew Cuomo,” Maurice Carroll, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said in a statement.

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Cuomo has been speculated as a potential presidential candidate, but he has rejected the talk, saying he focused on re-election in 2018 to a third term.

Despite their preference that he stays out of Washington, many voters like Cuomo, the poll found. More than half, 65 percent, believed he has strong leadership qualities, and 54 percent believed he cares about their needs and problems.

He gained a 43 percent approval rating upstate, yet the governor could not garner a large amount of support to run for president.

For the the 2020 elections, 48 percent of upstate voters believed that Cuomo running for president would be good for New York, but only 34 percent said he should run.

His approval rating of 52 percent fell just below the approval New York’s other Democratic leaders -- such as Sen. Charles Schumer at 58 percent, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand at 56 percent and 55 percent for Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

Despite the low rate of support for Cuomo running for president, more New Yorkers approved of the job he is doing compared with President Trump, a fellow New Yorker.

Trump's approval rating in New York was 29 percent, the poll said.

The poll surveyed 1,446 New York voters between March 23 and March 27. It had a margin of error of 2.6 percentage points.