ALBANY — Grim-faced Assembly Democrats emerged from the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Albany a little while ago after receiving a private briefing from Speaker Sheldon Silver on the results of just-completed polling and focus groups conducted by the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee.
“The public is mad, very mad, they’re angry at both parties, Democrats and Republicans, and it’s grim out there,” said one of the participants.
The Democrats were also told that Gov. Paterson is a major liability for their party heading into the November elections. Asked if anyone at the gathering had defended the governor, the participant said, ”the silence was deafening.”
Paterson’s polling numbers were described as “virtually identical” to the abysmal ratings found for the governor in the Siena College’s Research Institute poll on Monday, which showed just 22 percent of the public had a positive view of Paterson’s performance in office.
Focus groups found “that a lot of people like Paterson personally but they think he’s over his head, that he’s just not able to do the job,” said the source.
On a positive note for the Democrats, Silver said he expected “very few losses” in the Assembly in the November elections.