Attorney General Andrew Cuomo would get the support of 72 percent of registered voters in the state in a primary against Gov. David Paterson, according to a Marist College poll released today. Twenty-one percent of voters would select Paterson, who plans to run for election next year.

   “Right now, Andrew Cuomo has a clear path to become governor,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College poll. “If he could fast-forward to next November, I’m sure he would.”

   The poll is being released a day after Republican officials confirmed that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is not going to run for governor. The poll found that Cuomo has a lead over former U.S. Rep. Rick Lazio in addition to Paterson. Lazio is the only Republican who has announced he is running for the seat.

   If Lazio ran against Cuomo today, Cuomo would win by a 3-to-1 margin—69 percent to 24 percent, the poll found. If Lazio ran against Paterson, 44 percent of the electorate would support Paterson and 44 percent would choose Lazio. Twelve percent are undecided.

   Cuomo has not announced whether he intends to run and Paterson has said he will stay in the race, despite his paltry poll numbers.

   Marist found that 63 percent of registered voters don’t want Paterson to run for governor and 30 percent want him to be in the race. In a Marist poll two months ago, 63 percent of voters surveyed said they wanted Paterson to drop out and 25 percent wanted him to continue his campaign.

   When asked about Paterson’s extensive television media campaign, 65 percent of voters who had seen one of the ads said Paterson should not run for governor.

   Sixty-six percent of voters think Cuomo is doing an excellent or good job and 6 percent said he is doing poorly. Paterson is at the other end of the spectrum. One-fifth of registered voters think he’s doing an excellent or good job and 35 percent said he is performing poorly. That’s better than a few months ago, when 17 percent approved of his performance and 44 percent said he was doing poorly.

   Marist surveyed 805 voters Nov. 12 and this Monday and Tuesday. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percent.