Poll Finds Voters Think Sheldon Silver Should Step Down as Assembly Speaker ALBANY - By more than two to one, New York State voters believe the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, should step down because of the way he handled sexual harassment allegations against Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez, according to a new poll. In an illustration of New Yorkers" feelings, 58 percent of voters said they would not want their daughter to work as an intern in the State Legislature, according to the poll, which was conducted by Quinnipiac University and released on Wednesday. The survey offered evidence of widespread disgust over the allegations against Mr. Lopez, Democrat of Brooklyn, who resigned last month to avoid expulsion from the Assembly, as well as unease with Mr. Silver, Democrat of Manhattan, who has served as speaker since 1994. Mr. Silver apologized last month for his handling of the Lopez matter, in which he reached a confidential settlement with two of Mr. Lopez's accusers and did not refer their initial allegations to the Assembly's ethics committee. After two more women accused Mr. Lopez of harassment, Mr. Silver did refer the allegations to the committee, and then publicly censured Mr. Lopez on behalf of the Assembly. A slew of newspaper editorial boards have called for Mr. Silver to step down, as have many Republican lawmakers. But with two exceptions, all of his Democratic colleagues in the Assembly have stood by him, as has Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat. Voters, however, appear much more upset: 51 percent said Mr. Silver should step down, compared with 22 percent who said he should keep his job, according to the poll, which was conducted from May 29 to June 3. Mr. Silver's approval rating was also the worst ever recorded by a Quinnipiac poll: 52 percent disapproved of how he was handling his job, compared with 44 percent in April. A plurality of Democrats - 45 percent - said he should step down, compared with 28 percent who said he should keep his post. In New York City, Mr. Silver's base of power, 50 percent of voters said he should resign, compared with 26 percent who said he should remain as speaker. Mr. Lopez resigned last month after a report by the state's ethics commission, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, described the behavior he was accused of in lurid detail. His departure came shortly after several other state legislators were arrested in unrelated corruption scandals, casting an unwelcome cloud over the Legislature as it prepares to finish its session this month. The poll released on Wednesday made clear that voters have paid attention to the scandals and are not pleased. Two-thirds described state government as dysfunctional, and 86 percent said corruption was a serious problem. A plurality of voters agreed that "almost everyone" in the Senate and the Assembly should be thrown out in a legislative housecleaning - including their own senators and Assembly members. Voters also said that Governor Cuomo had primary responsibility for cleaning up corruption, and that he had done a lackluster job with it. The poll recorded Mr. Cuomo's lowest net approval rating as governor. Fifty-three percent of voters said they approved of the job he was doing; in April, 57 percent had approved. The governor's popularity has fallen sharply in the past six months. In December, 74 percent of voters approved of his job performance. Still, in the poll released on Wednesday, 58 percent of voters said they believed Mr. Cuomo deserved re-election next year. The poll of 1,075 registered voters, conducted by telephone, has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.