Kennedy, Cuomo top poll for Clinton seat

New Yorkers want Gov. David Paterson (D) to pick either Caroline Kennedy (D) or Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (D) to replace Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Senate, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.

The survey of 834 registered Empire State voters shows 33 percent of voters want Paterson to pick Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy, for the Senate seat Clinton is vacating.

{mosads}That puts Kennedy narrowly ahead of Cuomo, the favorite of 29 percent of those polled. Cuomo is a popular first-term attorney general and the son of ex-Gov. Mario Cuomo.

Coming in third was Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), but she was named by just 4 percent of those polled. Gillibrand, who just won her second term in Congress, represents an Albany-based district.

One quarter of voters said Paterson should choose a generic “someone else.”

Both Cuomo and Kennedy would be popular choices. Cuomo has sky-high approval ratings, with 72 percent saying they approve of the way he’s handled his job as the state’s top law enforcement officer and just 14 percent saying they disapprove. Cuomo’s 55 percent favorable rating is higher than Kennedy’s 46 percent approval rating; just 11 percent and 17 percent view Cuomo and Kennedy unfavorably, respectively.

Nearly half of registered voters, 46 percent, say Kennedy would be a good senator, with 30 percent disagreeing. Forty percent of those polled say Kennedy is qualified to serve in the Senate, while 41 percent say she is not, which could be troubling for a candidate who has faced early criticism about her qualifications.

Those polled view Kennedy as the front-runner. Buoyed by non-stop cable news coverage and a whirlwind tour of Upstate New York that generated plenty of local and national coverage, fully 48 percent of New Yorkers think Kennedy will be Paterson’s pick to replace Clinton in the Senate, while just one-quarter of voters don’t think she will get the nod.

Whether it’s Kennedy, Cuomo or any of the half-dozen other serious candidates thought to be under consideration, Clinton’s replacement will have big shoes to fill in the minds of New York voters. Seven in ten registered voters in the state say they approve of Clinton’s job performance as a senator, while just a quarter of voters say they disapprove.

The poll, conducted December 17-21, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percent.