Sen. D'Amato's Approval Rating Dips

ALBANY, N.Y. (AllPolitics, March 4) -- New York Sen. Alfonse D'Amato's approval rating has slipped among Empire State voters since last November, a new survey found. Conducted by Quinnipiac College in Hamden, Conn., the poll of 733 voters found his support at 34 percent, down from 39 percent in November.

Worse for D'Amato, 50 percent of those surveyed said they would choose New York City public advocate Mark Green in the next Senate election, while only 33 percent favored D'Amato. D'Amato beat Green in the 1986 Senate race, 57 percent to 41 percent. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

D'Amato's political profile has been enhanced since the Republican takeover of Congress, and in backing the long-shot but ultimately successful candidacy of Gov. George Pataki, D'Amato became the state's most powerful official. Though reprimanded by the Senate for ethical wrongdoing of his own during the 1980s, D'Amato has chaired the high profile Senate investigation of the Whitewater affair. In a piece on D'Amato last Sunday, the New York Times Magazine noted D'Amato has been elevated by Sen. Robert Dole (R-Kan.) to important leadership positions both in the Senate and in the Kansas senator's presidential campaign.

But D'Amato's exercise of his clout has aroused controversy. Democrats see D'Amato's Whitewater inquiry as a political witchhunt, which could be a factor in D'Amato's declining popularity.

Perhaps more important, however, has been criticism he has tried to keep all GOP presidential candidates except Dole off the Empire State's ballot. Because New York's GOP primary rules require candidates to collect thousands of signatures from each congressional district, most candidates didn't even try to get on the ballot. Only Dole and publisher Malcolm S. "Steve" Forbes are on all ballots statewide.

The survey found New York's other senator, Democrat Daniel Moynihan, also lost popularity, down to 48 percent from 52 percent approval. Gov. Pataki held steady with an approval rating of 47 percent.

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