N.Y. Poll: Cuomo still gets high marks; Hillary should avoid mayoral run

(CNN) – New York voters gave their governor Andrew Cuomo the highest approval rating of his two years in office in a poll released Wednesday.

The survey from Quinnipiac University indicated 74% of voters in New York approve of the job Cuomo, a Democrat, is doing in Albany, compared to 13% who disapprove. Sixty-eight percent of Republicans approve of New York's governor, compared to 82% of Democrats and 70% of independents.

While Cuomo's handling of the recovery from Superstorm Sandy was popular – 80% say he handled the aftermath of the storm "excellent" or "good" – it doesn't appear to have had a massive effect on his approval rating. Quinnipiac's surveys have shown Cuomo's approval rating above 70% for the past six months.

That wasn't the case in New Jersey, another state hit hard by the devastating storm at the end of October. The Republican governor there, Chris Christie, saw his approval ratings skyrocket from the fifty-percent range to above 70%.

Both Christie and Cuomo are considered potential presidential candidates in 2016, though a survey last week from Siena College Research Institute indicated only 39% of New York voters saying Cuomo should make a bid for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.

That poll also showed Cuomo with a sky-high approval rating, 72%. Sixty percent said he's doing an excellent or good job in office.

"Politicians and pundits keep talking about Gov. Andrew Cuomo for President. But it's worth noting that Cuomo-as-Governor still polls lofty job-approval numbers. He gets great grades for coping with Sandy," said Maurice Carroll, the director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

But what about the other big New York Democrat considered a potential candidate in 2016 – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton? The Quinnipiac Poll didn't assess New Yorkers' desire to see her run for the White House, but they did ask whether the former first lady should make a bid for mayor of New York City.

That comes the week after a report in the New York Times suggested the city's current mayor, Michael Bloomberg, encouraged Clinton to consider putting her name in the mayoral race, slated for 2013.

The poll showed 58% of voters statewide, and 51% of voters in New York City, said Clinton should not make a bid for mayor.

The Quinnipiac University poll was conduced December 5-10 by telephone from 1,302 New York voters. The sampling error was plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.