A new Marist poll has some bad news for Governor Paterson: His approval rating has dropped 20 points in since Marist's late January poll. Marist also notes: "In fact, Governor Paterson’s approval rating is the lowest approval rating a New York State governor has received in the Marist Poll’s nearly thirty year history of statewide surveys." And even among registered Democrats, only 30% think he's doing an above average job (65% disagree—heck, even elected Democrats who think he's a nice human being are upset). Still, " 77% of New Yorkers believe he is working hard as governor, and 62% say Paterson understands the problems of New Yorkers." Marist's pollster Lee Miringoff told CityRoom, "You’re dealing with a bad economy, low scores on his handling of the budget, a messy Senate pick, a lot of TV ads about cutbacks, and a drop in his leadership numbers such that there’s a lot of erosion at the core, not just at the edges." As for hypothetical 2010 matchups, Rudy Giuliani would beat him, while Andrew Cuomo would beat Giuliani.