 May 25, 2021 | by Chris Cillizza and Lauren Dezenski Why Andrew Cuomo just might win again  New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has spent the last several months fending off calls for him to resign over a series of allegations of sexual harassment from former female employees.
He has routinely rejected those calls to step aside, insisting that everyone needs to wait for the results of an ongoing investigation being conducted by New York Attorney General Letitia James into the allegations. Cuomo has also argued that "people know the difference between playing politics, bowing to cancel culture, and the truth."
His persistent refusal to walk away from the governorship -- or to show any doubt about whether or not to seek a fourth term next November drew eyerolls and derision from many Democratic politicians earlier this spring.
But new poll numbers from Siena College suggest that, at worst, the New York Democrat has managed to tread water amid these allegations -- and may even be decently positioned to win again in November 2022.
There's also this: When matched with a generic Republican, Cuomo leads 48%-38%. (James, who is rumored as a possible primary challenger to Cuomo, leads 46%-29% over a generic GOPer.)
The data is not all great news for Cuomo. A majority of New Yorkers (53%) said they would prefer to vote for someone other than him next year, while 37% said they prepared to back him again.
But taken as a whole, Cuomo and his political team have to feel as though they have weathered the worst and come out with a fighting chance.
Which gets me to an important piece written by Brandon Rottinghaus for the Monkey Cage blog at The Washington Post recently. In it, he writes:
"Do scandals even matter any more?
"In a polarized political world, political science research suggests such allegations are unlikely to have much effect on politicians' approval or political ambitions."
In short: People are so polarized and tribal these days that nothing -- absolutely nothing -- will move them to vote for someone of an opposing party.
-- Chris QUOTE OF THE DAY "The 10 of us who voted for it, we've become very close. Because, you know, look, misery loves company" -- GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger on the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the January 6 insurrection. HEAVY ON THE SYMBOLISM  President Joe Biden heads to Geneva next month for his first face-to-face presidential summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The high-stakes meeting comes nearly three years after Putin met then-President Donald Trump in Helsinki, Finland, according to CNN's Jeff Zeleny, Chandelis Duster and Betsy Klein. The officials said the meeting with Biden will look very different than that July 2018 summit, during which Trump sided with Putin and openly dismissed US intelligence about Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The Swiss meeting locale is heavy on the neutral symbolism. The landlocked European nation has maintained a neutrality toward armed conflicts around the world. The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation calls it "one of the most important principles of Swiss foreign policy."
CHRIS' GOOD READS  This is a really good timeline by WaPo's Glenn Kessler on the Wuhan lab-leak theory.
I didn't know this: Matt Gaetz helped create Ron DeSantis. Thanks, Matt Dixon!
It's been a year since George Floyd's death. Here's CNN on why racism won't go away. And the New York Times on everything that has happened over the past year in the fight for racial justice in policing. Also make time for this BBC piece on how the world of sports reacted to Floyd's murder.
As a lover of crime dramas, this GQ list is invaluable
MUSICAL INTERLUDE Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen co-wrote and performed a new song called "Like I Used To." It's pretty great. TUESDAY'S MUST-SEE TWEETS  1. Kevin (finally) condemns MTG 2. And new video surfaces of her 3. The Covid-19 numbers keep heading in the right direction 4. Johnny Knoxville is 50. How? 5. Brooks Koepka isn't a Bryson DeChambeau fan 6. I love Max Scherzer SO much
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE  Unidentified Flying Objects have long captivated Americans, but they're getting some new scrutiny lately.
Former President Barack Obama offered some *interesting* thoughts on this ahead of an upcoming report from the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Defense on what they call "unidentified aerial phenomena."
In this latest episode of The Point, Chris explains what the government already knows about UFOs and what we can expect to uncover in the upcoming report. Stay with the Point on YouTube and subscribe!  ONE BIG DEFENSE 'absolute immunity' Former President Donald Trump's attorney defended the ex-President's incendiary speech on January 6, saying he is protected under the First Amendment and had "absolute immunity" while he was President to contest the election, according to a court filing this week. You are receiving this message because you subscribed to CNN's The Point with Chris Cillizza newsletter. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get The Point in your inbox.
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