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80% SAY SPITZ IS THE PITS
The New York Post By FREDRIC U. DICKER State Editor

February 21, 2008 -- ALBANY - Eighty percent of New York voters say Gov. Spitzer has done nothing to improve the state or has made it worse since promising that "on Day 1, everything changes," a devastating new poll showed yesterday.
The Siena College survey found a mere 15 percent of voters believe that Spitzer has made New York a better place to live since taking office on Jan. 1, 2007, after a historic landslide election victory, while 22 percent said things have gotten worse. Fifty-eight percent said Spitzer had made no difference at all.

Even heavily Democratic New York City voters were negative about Spitzer's accomplishments, with 21 percent saying he had made things worse and just 18 percent saying he had made them better. "For New Yorkers, the slogan, 'Everything changes on Day 1' is a long-forgotten memory," said Siena spokesman Steven Greenberg.

The poll contained other bad news for Spitzer, who has been battered in recent months by the Dirty Tricks Scandal and related ethical questions; the fallout from his plan to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens; and repeated reports of an abusive "steamroller" style.

Sixty-five percent of voters - including 59 percent of city voters - rated Spitzer's overall job performance negatively, compared with just 33 percent who gave him a positive rating. Forty-six percent of all voters had an unfavorable personal view of Spitzer, while 41 percent of voters viewed him favorably. In the city, those numbers were 42 percent and 43 percent, respectively.

In a finding that has already stirred speculation that Spitzer could face a primary challenge, just 25 percent of all voters - and only 23 percent of city voters - backed the governor for re-election in 2010, compared with 50 percent of all voters and 51 percent of city voters who said they wanted someone else.

david.seifman@nypost.com