Governor Andrew Cuomo’s handling of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in the last month has given him his highest favorable rating with voting in eight years, a Siena College poll released Monday morning found.

According to the poll, 87 percent of voters in New York approve of the job Cuomo is doing to manage the crisis as he has become a national focal point with daily briefings providing updates on the infection rate, the need for equipment and the push to expand hospital capacity.

Approval of Cuomo’s performance during the crisis cuts across nearly every demographic group, the poll found, with Democrats, Republicans and independent voters giving him top marks for his handling of the crisis.

Cuomo’s favorable ratings overall have also shot up in the last month. Before the coronavirus pandemic disrupted daily life in the country, Cuomo held a middling favorable rating of 44 percent, with half of voters holding an unfavorable view.

Cuomo’s favorable rating is now its highest since 2012, 71 percent to 23 percent.

The spread is Cuomo’s best since before the passage of the SAFE Act, a package of gun control laws that led to a loss of support among Republicans and upstate voters after its passage in January 2013.

Cuomo over the last month has ordered businesses to close and eventually millions of non-essential workers to stay at home in order to prevent the spread of the virus, which has sickened tens of thousands of people.

SEE ALSO | Why Governor Cuomo's Coronavirus Updates Are Getting a Lot of Attention

New York has the highest number of confirmed cases in the country and leads the nation in deaths attributed to the virus.

Cuomo has pleaded with the federal government for more help in securing ventilators, but he also singled out President Donald Trump for praise when New York gets what it needs to fight the pandemic.  

Voters in New York, a heavily Democratic state, are less enamored with the job Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are doing amid the crisis.

Still, voters also back federal government experts, with 74 percent approving of the job Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Health is doing.

Voters disapprove of Pence’s handling of the pandemic, 47 percent to 41 percent. Trump’s approval is even lower, with 56 percent disapproving.

Most voters, 73 percent, say they are very concerned with the pandemic and 79 percent are very concerned or somewhat concerned they will become sick themselves.

The poll of 566 registered voters was conducted from March 22 to March 26. It has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.

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