FOR RELEASE: JUNE 24, 2009

NEW YORK GOVERNOR’S DISAPPROVAL BOTTOMS OUT AT 2 - 1,QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY POLL FINDS;CUOMO HOLDS 3 – 1 LEAD IN DEM PRIMARY RACE FOR GOV.

New York Gov. David Paterson’s approval rating, in free fall for a year, may have bottomed outwith voters disapproving 61 – 28 percent of the job he’s doing, according to a QuinnipiacUniversity poll released today.This is the exact same disapproval rating in a May 13 survey by the independentQuinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University.In this latest poll, disapproval of Gov. Paterson ranges from 76 – 16 percent amongRepublicans to 64 – 24 percent among independent voters to 52 – 36 percent among Democrats.Black voters approve 52 – 35 percent while white voters disapprove 66 – 23 percent. Hispanicvoters disapprove 54 – 33 percent.In the 2010 Democratic primary for Governor, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo topsPaterson 57 – 20 percent, with 20 percent undecided.Turning to the general election, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani leadsPaterson 52 – 34 percent, including 90 – 3 percent among Republicans and 57 – 25 percent amongindependent voters. Paterson leads 60 – 28 percent among Democrats.Cuomo tops Giuliani 51 – 39 percent, as independent voters switch to 45 – 40 percent for the Democrat. Republicans stay with Giuliani 78 – 12 percent. Democrats back Cuomo 79 – 16 percent, 19 percentage points greater than their support for Paterson.“Gov. David Paterson’s job approval holds negative among every demographic groupexcept his fellow black New Yorkers. The only good news is that, like the economy, Patersonmay have hit bottom, with nowhere to go but up,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the QuinnipiacUniversity Polling Institute.

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Maurice Carroll, DirectorQuinnipiac University Polling InstituteRubenstein Associates, Inc.,Public RelationsPat Smith (212) 843-8026

Quinnipiac University Poll/June 24, 2009 – page 2

New York State voters say 64 – 22 percent that Paterson does not deserve to be elected toa full four-year term, virtually unchanged from April and May Quinnipiac University polls.Voters approve 73 – 12 percent of the job Cuomo is doing. Even Republicans approve58 – 24 percent. By a 63 – 15 percent margin, voters have a favorable opinion of Cuomo.Paterson gets a negative 54 – 28 percent favorability while Giuliani gets a positive 55 – 36 percent score.

U.S. Senate Race

The 2010 Democratic primary for U.S. Senator remains in play as 27 percent back U.S.Rep. Carolyn Maloney and 23 percent back U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, with 4 percent for Jonathan Tasini and 44 percent undecided.Sen. Gillibrand leads U.S. Rep. Peter King, a possible Republican challenger 44 – 28 percent, with 26 percent undecided. Maloney leads King 42 – 26 percent, with 30 percentundecided.After five months in office, Gillibrand gets a 37 – 15 percent job approval rating from New York State voters, with 48 percent undecided.Voters know little about the possible Senate candidates: 63 percent don’t know enoughabout Gillibrand to form an opinion; 67 percent don’t know enough about Maloney and 66 percent don’t know enough about King.“The New York cliché, that a liberal wins a Democratic primary, looks like it holds truein this poll. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, a city liberal, edges Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, anupstate moderate, but almost half are undecided. They each beat Congressman Peter King, aLong Island Republican, by about the same,” Carroll said.From June 16 – 21, Quinnipiac University surveyed 2,477 New York State registeredvoters, with a margin of error of +/- 2 percentage points. The survey includes 1,048 Democratswith a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts publicopinion surveys in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio andnationwide as a public service and for research.

For more data or RSS feed –http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml,or call (203) 582-5201.