From there, Cuomo’s popularity increased, as did that of his fellow government officials, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, and then-President Donald Trump, a Republican.
But, just as history has shown us time and time again, one year turned out to be a lifetime in his political career. They have all been defeated or are fighting for their political life.
Cuomo, Newsom and Trump experienced classic examples of a rally event around the flag. When a crisis comes, voters give their top politicians to the polls. These blows rarely last, a lesson these three politicians have learned.
Cuomo was probably seen as the greatest hero of the early days of the pandemic. He gave daily press conferences that became compulsory television for many. He even wrote a book on leadership.
Cuomo’s popularity soared and he was even talked about as a presidential candidate. In an April 2020 Siena College poll, Cuomo’s favorable rating jumped to 77%. Just two months earlier, his favorable rating had been 44%, an insignificant figure for a blue-state Democrat.
Its favorable rating dropped to 57% in January 2021 after Covid-19 cases rose again in New York.
Then came a wave of political disasters for Cuomo. In recent weeks, there have been reports that his top aides allegedly altered the data to hide a higher death toll among residents of state nursing homes.
Most notably, Cuomo addresses multiple allegations of misconduct toward women. The Attorney General’s office is investigating the claims and the Speaker of the State Assembly has allowed a judicial trial investigation to be initiated. Many state and federal officials are demanding Cuomo resign.
The results of the polls, which came before some of the most recent allegations of women and demanding resignation, have been pretty bad for Cuomo.
His favorable rating drops to 44% and only 36% of voters want him to run for re-election, according to a March Quinnipiac University poll.
The only good news for Cuomo is that a majority of Democrats (60%) have a favorable view of the governor, a meager majority (50%) want him to run again in 2022, and only 21% want him to resign.
If those numbers remain in a state as democratic as New York, Cuomo could survive the scandals.
Things look better for their west coast counterpart. Newsom does not face this kind of opposition from his own party. Still, it has been a pretty bumpy political path for the California governor.
California was one of the first states affected by the pandemic and a majority of voters applauded Newsom’s response. Its approval rating among likely voters from the California Institute of Public Policy voting exceeded 64% in May 2020. It was over 52% in February 2020 and 49% in January 2020. .
Newsom, however, has been criticized for how it handled business and school closures and reopenings over the past year.
He is now facing a recovery effort, which could turn into the vote. At this point, the withdrawal would probably not be successful even if it reached voters.
Still, the fact that Newsom is facing a withdrawal and that its approval rating is only about 50% right now is not a good position for a Democrat in California.
Of course, both Cuomo and Newsom have a better political form than Trump. Although Trump ended up losing the election, at least in part in his response to the pandemic, voters had actually gathered around him prematurely.
Trump’s approval rating jumped to 40 at several polls in late March 2020. A plurality of Americans approved of his treatment of the crisis in several polls.
However, Trump was seen as a bad job in dealing with the aftermath of the pandemic. His press conferences were widely examined.
Towards the summer, Trump’s overall approval rating dropped to 40 lows. It consistently consists of who would better manage the pandemic compared to Democrat Joe Biden, who is now president.
In fact, Trump may have won the election without the pandemic. His pass rating in the economics was better than that of any of the headlines they had lost in the last 45 years before him.
Unfortunately for Trump, crises can drastically change political winds. A year after the pandemic, these winds are blowing against Cuomo, Newsom and Trump.
