Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Paterson Falls Further | So much for those TV commercials that Gov. David Paterson was hoping would boost his popularity (and which he spent half a million dollars on): According to a new poll, Paterson now trails Andrew Cuomo by a staggering 59 points in a potential primary next year. [NYP]

Even Recessions Have Fan Clubs | Not everyone is unhappy about the recession, apparently. In a recent poll, one in four people said they were happy that the economic downturn took place because it helped them "realize their priorities in life." [Reuters]

Bloomberg Blowout? | With the elections eight days away, Mayor Bloomberg has widened his lead. He's now ahead by 18 percentage points, according to a new Quinnipiac poll, which is up from 16 points last week. [NYT]

The Good News/Bad News for Paterson | It looks like Gov. David Paterson's campaign to remake his public image by changing up his facial hair has yet to pay off, unfortunately. A new poll by Siena College indicates Andrew Cuomo would beat Paterson 70% to 20% in a potential Democratic primary, and 72% of New Yorkers would prefer to see someone else elected governor. But it's not all bad news: Paterson's job approval rating now stands at 19%, which is up a whole percentage point from last month. [NYDN]

"Nearly one-third of Americans say they are less likely to watch Late Show host David Letterman following the funnyman's admission that he has had affairs with women who work on his CBS show, according to a poll released today." Really? But what will all these people watch on TV instead? More

The Glass Is Half Full For Eliot Spitzer | "The former love guv is getting no love from New Yorkers. A whopping 69% of registered voters, including 62% of his fellow Democrats, say disgraced ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer should not run for statewide office, according to a new Marist College poll. Just 27% say he should resurrect his political career, according to the poll released Thursday morning." No love? We might be missing something here, but those numbers look pretty good given the circumstances. They also suggest that 4% of the population thinks he should run for statewide office, but he won't be resurrecting his political career by doing so. They might be right! [NYDN]

Lindsay Lohan Embodies America | "More than one out of five people around you right now is wearing dirty underwear, one in three didn't shower today and most are professed nose-pickers." At least that's what a poll of AOL users uncovered, according to the Daily News, which generously advanced the story by reaching out to a microbiologist at NYU to weigh in on the potential dangers of nose-picking. And it turns out you're in the clear! "It's okay as long as you wash your hands," he reports. [NYDN]

New Poll: Anybody But Bloomberg | The majority of New Yorkers still don't know who Bill Thompson is. (If you happen to be one of them, he's New York City's comptroller and Bloomberg's leading rival in the race for mayor this fall.) But the fact that most NYC residents don't know the first thing about Thompson doesn't appear to be hurting his poll numbers. In a hypothetical matchup between the two men, Bloomberg leads Thompson by 47 to 37 percent, according to Quinnipiac, although a month ago, Bloomberg was beating Thompson by 54 to 32 percent. [NYT/City Room]

The David Paterson Fan Club Shrinks Further | Gov. David Paterson has never generated positive poll numbers, but every time the numbers reach a new low, another month passes and they get even worse. According to a survey conducted by the New York Times, Cornell, and NY1—the same one that found that while people generally like Michael Bloomberg, a majority aren't interested in having him serve a third term—just 21 percent of New York voters say they have a favorable view of Paterson, compared to a 26 percent favorability rating for Eliot Spitzer, and seven in 10 respondents said Paterson did not deserve to be elected in 2010. There was one bright spot for the governor who has vowed to make gay marriage legal in New York: Forty-six percent say they favor same-sex marriages, up from 38 percent a year ago. [NYT, previously]

New Yorkers Not So Sure About This Bloomberg Guy | A poll conducted by NY1, the New York Times, and Cornell University finds that while 60 percent of New Yorkers approve of Mayor Bloomberg's job performance as mayor, 55 percent say they'd like "someone else" in City Hall next year. How confusing! Not that it should come as any surprise: Nearly 70 percent of the people surveyed couldn't say if Bloomberg "was a Democrat, Republican, independent or something else." [NY1, NYT]

More Bad News for David Paterson | Just when you thought Gov. David Paterson couldn't be any less popular than he already is, he goes and surprises us yet again! A new Marist poll finds that just 19 percent of voters approve of the job the governor has been doing, a seven-point drop compared to his approval numbers last month. Even worse: Andrew Cuomo, who may go up against Paterson in the Democratic gubernatorial primary next year, is the state's most popular politician with 70 percent of the public saying he's doing a "good" or "excellent" job as attorney general. To Paterson's credit, about half the people polled said he was performing nicely when it came to combating the whole swine flu thing. But since few people could actually explain what he was doing to prevent the epidemic from spreading, we're guessing it may not be the most comforting consolation prize. [NYDN]

Paterson Plummets Further | A new poll indicates that New Yorkers would rather have disgraced former governor Eliot Spitzer running the show than current governor David Paterson. When given the choice to pick any of the last four governors to lead the state, just eight percent picked Paterson. It's unclear if this means that Paterson now more unpopular than ever, or if it's because Spitzer's campaign to redeem himself is finally paying off, but we'll leave that to you to decide. [NYP]

What do Donald Trump or Anderson Cooper know about taxes? Beats us, but for some reason the pair came up at the top of the list of "celebrities Americans feel most comfortable doing their taxes." The Donald came in first with 32 percent of the vote; Coop followed behind with 27 percent. That Trump came in first may be slightly surprising considering he has trouble keeping his own finances in order. Much less surprising? Paris Hilton came in dead last.

David Paterson: Now Less Popular Than Ever | It really didn't look like David Paterson's approval ratings could get any worse when they hit an all-time low a few weeks back. But as usual Paterson has somehow managed to outdo himself. According to a new poll by the Siena Research Institute, his ratings have dropped another 10 percent in the past month alone, with only 14 percent of voters now saying they would be willing to vote for him in 2010 and only 29 percent giving him a "favorable" rating. Music to Andrew Cuomo's ears, no doubt. [Bloomberg, previously]

'Bring Back Spitzer!' | New Yorkers were happier with Eliot Spitzer as governor—even after he became tangled up with Ashley Dupre—compared to David Paterson, according to the results of a new poll. Just 26 percent of the 1,045 voters surveyed by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion said Paterson was doing either a "good" or "excellent" job, the lowest job approval figures Marist has seen in the 27 years it's been surveying voters. (Spitzer had a 30 percent approval in the days after his prostitution scandal broke.) At least Paterson seems to be aware of his enormous unpopularity: "If it wasn't for A-Rod and Bernie Madoff, they'd just about run me out of this state right now." [NYT]