Those general election numbers are hilarious. Cuomo is unpopular but the majority that dislikes him is scattered across groups that despise each other.
It's striking to have a contest where something close to 60% of voters are interested in voting for a candidate other than the incumbent, but the GOP is such a mess and so unappealing to most voters that they can barely attract half of that.
The guy has a 49-43 approval rating and a 49-38 favorability rating.
Unpopular is not the word I'd use.
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49-43 is not a good approval rating for a Democratic governor in New York State, especially for an incumbent who takes only 43% against the candidates who will actually be on the ballot.
Lol, I don't like Cuomo but it's an objectively pretty good approval rating. Even in blood red or ocean blue states, many disapprove of the executive from the same party. Gubernatorial politics aren't nearly as polarized as Presidential ones in that regard. Just take a look at this:
https://ballotpedia.org/Gubernatorial_approval_ratingsCuomo is more popular than Tom Wolf and Jerry Brown.