In [...] New York, where various state legislators have been embroiled in scandals, a new Marist College poll indicates that just 16 percent of voters believe the state Senate is doing an excellent or good job, while 82 percent rated it as fair or poor.
In the state Assembly, which hasn't been in the same throes of scandal and chaos as the state Senate, the numbers aren't much different: 17 percent said the Assembly is doing an excellent or good job, while 80 percent said the job was fair or poor.
"There's a cavalcade of problems coming out of Albany, huge stalemates, dysfunction and corruption issues," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.
Miringoff said while state lawmakers are inevitably linked to the general dissatisfaction with and distrust of the federal government, most of the displeasure in the Empire State has been homegrown. Back-to-back scandals in the governor's office certainly haven't helped.
"The big media centers in New York are usually New York City and D.C. You have to really work at it in Albany to punch through, but they have," said Miringoff. "It's a real mess out there."
By contrast, the most spectacular collapse in public approval in living memory, that of George Bush's presidency, bottomed out at 33% approve, 66% disapprove the week he left office. Little wonder there's a fundraising feeding frenzy.
