Under the Steamroller, Spitz Hits Pits

He has only himself to blame for this mess.

Scrapping his controversial plan to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens did nothing to stem Gov. Spitzer's popularity free fall, a new poll shows.

For the first time, a majority of New Yorkers views Spitzer unfavorably, with 51 percent having a negative opinion and just 36 percent viewing him favorably, according to a Siena College poll released yesterday.

It's a continuing plunge from last month, when 46 percent viewed him unfavorably and 41 percent saw him favorably.

The latest numbers are also a remarkable drop from a June Siena poll, in which 64 percent viewed him favorably and only 22 percent unfavorably.

"Voters are continuing to lose faith in their governor," said Siena poll spokesman Steven Greenberg.

Spitzer's job-performance rating is even worse, with 70 percent saying the governor is doing a fair or poor job, and just 27 percent believing he is doing an excellent or good job.

In fact, 61 percent of Democrats view his job performance negatively, and more people, 29 percent, gave him a poor rating than an excellent or good rating combined.

More here.

Apparently, Spitzer doesn't care that 70 percent of New Yorkers insist that he come clean. (Leaving folks to wonder just what exactly it is that he's hiding.)

Nor are his ratings rebounding despite his decision to scrap his driver's-licenses-for-illegal-aliens idea. That plan cost him big-time in the polls; now that it's history, you'd think the ratings would bounce back - but no such luck.

That they fell yet again suggests that voters are growing ever-angrier with Spitzer's failure to tell the truth about Dirty Tricks. They'll keep falling, too, until that whole sordid affair is unveiled.

Meantime, he'll have no reservoir of public support or good will to draw on as he pushes his political agenda. He faces months, if not years, of paralysis.

Spitzer may be tempted to pander to this group or that to garner support. Never mind the damage that could do New York; it won't even work for him.

Actually, the driver's-license fiasco appears to have been born of just such a temptation; again, it backfired miserably. As will, we suspect, his apparent catering to soft-on-crime liberals by loosening parole restrictions on violent felons.

No, there's only one hope for the gov: Tell the truth. Publicly. Under oath.

And Spitzer knows it.

The longer he waits, the worse it'll get.