From that point on, Cuomo’s popularity soared, as did his fellow politicians, California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, and then-President Donald Trump, a Republican.
But, as history has shown us time and again, a year became a lifetime in their political career. They have all been conquered or are fighting for their political life.
Cuomo, Newsom, and Trump have all experienced classic examples of a rally-around-the-flag event. When a crisis hits, voters give their leading politicians bumps in the polls. These bumps rarely last – a lesson all three of these politicians have now learned.
Cuomo was probably seen as the greatest hero of the early days of the pandemic. He gave daily news conferences that became a must-see television for many. He even wrote a book on leadership.
Cuomo’s popularity soared, and there was even talk of a candidate for president. In a poll by Siena College in April 2020, Cuomo’s favorable rating jumped to 77%. Just two months earlier, his favorable rating had been 44% – a meager figure for a blue state Democrat.
His favorable rating fell to 57% in January 2021 after the Covid-19 business rose again in New York.
Then a wave of political disaster struck Cuomo. In recent weeks, there have been reports that its top employees have reportedly changed data to hide a higher death toll among residents of the state’s nursing home.
Notably, Cuomo has faced multiple allegations of inappropriate behavior towards women. The attorney general’s office is investigating the claims, and the State Assembly speaker has authorized an investigation into impeachment. Many state and federal officials are calling on Cuomo to step down.
The results in the polls, which settled ahead of some of the more recent allegations of women and calls to resign, were pretty bad for Cuomo.
His favorable rating has fallen to 44% and only 36% of voters want him to run for re-election, according to a Quinnipiac University poll in March.
The only good news for Cuomo is that most Democrats (60%) have a favorable view of the governor, a small majority (50%) want him back at the helm in 2022, and only 21% want him to resign.
If those numbers hold in a state as democratic as New York, Cuomo could survive the scandals.
It looks better for its west coast counterpart. Newsom has nowhere near that kind of opposition from its own party. Still, it has been quite a bumpy political path for the California governor.
California was one of the first states to be hit by the pandemic, and most voters applauded Newsom’s response. His approval score among likely voters in the Public Policy Institute of California polls was 64% in May 2020, up from 52% in February 2020 and 49% in January 2020.
However, Newsom has been criticized for handling lockdowns and reopenings of businesses and schools over the past year.
He is now facing a recall, which could pass the vote. At this point, the recall would likely fail, even if it reached voters.
Still, the fact that Newsom is being recalled, and that his approval score is currently only about 50%, isn’t a great position for a California Democrat.
Of course, both Cuomo and Newsom are in better political shape than Trump. Although Trump ultimately lost the election, at least in part as a result of his response to the pandemic, voters had actually rallied around him early on.
Trump’s approval score jumped in a number of polls into the high 40s at the end of March 2020. A large number of Americans approved his approach to the crisis in a number of polls.
However, Trump was seen as a bad way to cope with the consequences of the pandemic. His news conferences were widely covered.
By the summer, Trump’s overall approval score dropped to the low 40s. He’s consistently low on who could better handle the pandemic compared to Democrat Joe Biden, who is now president.
Indeed, Trump won the election very well without the pandemic. His economy approval score was better than any incumbent who had lost to him for the past 45 years.
Unfortunately for Trump, crises can turn the political wind dramatically. A year after the pandemic, those winds are blowing against Cuomo, Newsom and Trump.
