Poll: Do Cuomo, de Blasio investigations affect their ability to lead?

It's not at all surprising that Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio - two politicians with polar opposite personalities and leadership styles - are reacting to the federal investigations into their activities very differently.

As the Wall Street Journal illustrated today, de Blasio has used the probes into his campaign finance fundraising methods as a vehicle to rail against nebulous outside forces preventing him from bringing progressive change to New York City. Cuomo, on the other hand, almost never wears his heart on his sleeve, even in the rare moments where the walls appear to be closing on him. Ever since word leaked that Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, had subpoenaed several individuals and entities involved with the governor's ballyhooed Buffalo Billion revitalization project - including his former longtime aide Joe Percoco and well-connected lobbyist Todd Howe - Cuomo has gone out of his way to project an image of full cooperation. Cuomo has even taken the deflection of any wrongdoing a step further by commissioning a private investigation into any illicit activity surrounding the Buffalo Billion.

But it's unclear how this contrast in crisis management will affect the perception in the eyes of New Yorkers. Cuomo has long enjoyed relatively high approval ratings, even as ethics scandals have swirled around him in Albany, while de Blasio has ridden the roller coaster of negative and positive polling numbers, thanks in part to a rocky relationship with the NYPD, a small spike in certain crime numbers and habitual lateness.

In last week's Slant poll, we got a little ahead of ourselves, asking our readers whether they thought the investigations into de Blasio would negtively impact his re-election chances. Roughly 77 percent of our respondents believed it would, while 23 percent believe de Blasio will have an uphill battle in 2017.

For this week, we thought we'd put the mayor and governor in the same boat, since the consequences of an eventual indictment from these investigations would be catastrophic for both politicians. Check out our poll below and tell us whether the investigations into Cuomo and de Blasio affects your perception of their ability to lead the state and city, respectively.

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