On Saturday, during the question and answer portion of a COVID-19 press briefing, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was asked about a recent poll suggesting that Democrats want him to replace Joe Biden as the party’s nominee for president.
A report asked: “There was a poll a few days ago that basically said – it was by Club for Growth – saying that Democrats wanna see you replace Joe Biden on the ticket. I’m wondering your reaction, and what you think of … would you consider doing that?”
Cuomo responded, first noting that the idea is “flattering,” then saying that it was “irrelevant.” The governor added that he hopes suspicions regarding the statements of government officials are “changing.”
Democrats would like to see me replace Joe Biden on the ticket. That is, on one hand, flattering. On the other hand, it is irrelevant. But to the extent that it’s flattering, I appreciate it. And look, when I talked about “keep politics out of this” … I hope it’s changing, but everyone has been very suspicious of government, and government officials, politicians – it’s always about their politics. They’re always trying to take the next step on the ladder. Be very careful about what they say because nuance; they’re deceptive creatures, politicians. I never felt that, I never believed it, but now it’s more important than ever before that people understand there is no politics here.
The governor continued, reinforcing the notion that he has no intention of running for president or vice president this year:
Sometimes, it can work, and it can work right, and sometimes, at a time of crisis, you actually see people who play to their strength. There is no politics here. I have no political agenda, period. I’m not running for president. I’m not running for vice president. I’m not running anywhere. I’m not going to Washington. I’m staying right here. I said to the people of this state unequivocally when I was running for governor, “I will serve as your governor.” “Well, they all say that, and then they do something different.” Yeah, I’m not that person. I am going to do what I said I was going to do because that’s who I am. So, that’s what I’m going to do. Period. End of story.
After noting Cuomo’s current popularity, the reporter asked if the governor would take a cabinet position, to which Cuomo replied:
I was a cabinet secretary 20 years ago. Done that, been there. No thank you. I’m going to do what I said I was going to do. I don’t know why it’s so hard to accept from an elected official – they may actually have meant what they said, and actually believe in sticking to it.
No president. No vice president. No going to Washington to serve [in] the cabinet … I did it. Eight years with the Clinton administration. I loved it. It was a great experience. I was HUD Secretary … worked all across the country; worked in every state in the United States. Lovely experience, but I have probably the most important job, to me, that I could have – and probably more important than ever before, frankly, given what we just went through.
The poll to which the reporter was referring, which surveyed 1,000 Americans, including 361 Democrats, asked: “Based on what you know today, do you agree or disagree that Democrats should nominate Governor Andrew Cuomo for president instead of Joe Biden?”
“56 percent of Democrats prefer Cuomo, with 44 percent wanting to stick with presumptive nominee Biden — a 12-point margin well outside the 4.8 percent margin of error for the Democratic sample,” writes the New York Post, with which the poll results were shared exclusively.
With Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) dropping out of the race on Wednesday, Joe Biden is the sole survivor in the Democratic presidential nomination process. According to the RealClearPolitics polling average, Biden currently has a 5.9% lead on President Trump (48.9% to 43%).