New polling shows Governor Cuomo has made inroads in his campaign to clear his name in the minds of voters after stepping down amid sexual harassment allegations, though many are skeptical of a statewide political return in 2022.

“Who knows what he’ll do in the next four years and I think that he’s playing the long game,” a professor of political science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Susan Kang, told the Sun. “He’s still young.”

“I could see him potentially running for a congressional seat, definitely not Senate,” she told the Sun. “I think Cuomo is open to everything and anything.”

New York, Westchester, Kings, Queens, and Bronx counties have historically shown strong support for Mr. Cuomo. He could theoretically run for Congress, capitalizing on pockets of support while circumnavigating possible statewide problems. New York’s 15th congressional district could prove promising.

If New York’s new district maps are enacted, the 15th would be the most Democratic-leaning district and an area where the governor enjoyed strong support.

It would be entirely within Bronx County, where Mr. Cuomo won with 90 percent of the vote in the 2018 gubernatorial race. 

Although unusual, this could be a potential path to re-enter politics for the former governor. Since 1900, 28 governors nationwide have gone on to become representatives.

On the statewide level, Mr. Cuomo’s election outlook appears less promising, though there has been an improvement since August.

Thirty-three percent of Democratic voters said that they would vote for Mr. Cuomo in a hypothetical gubernatorial primary election, as compared to 37 percent who said they would vote for Governor Hochul, according to an Emerson College poll released yesterday.

This is a marked increase from August, when about 25 percent backed Mr. Cuomo in such a scenario, according to an earlier poll. 

Although these numbers demonstrate some improvement for Mr. Cuomo, political watchers are skeptical of a 2022 statewide comeback, suggesting he is still priming the public for a return further into the future.

“That 33 percent who support him, that’s it, that’s the most support he’ll get,” Ms. Kang told the Sun. “The entire Democratic establishment is pretty much on board with Hochul.”

This is supported by data. The March Emerson College poll found that 63 percent of voters “think former Governor Andrew Cuomo should not re-enter public office.”

Regardless, while voters generally trust the findings related to the sexual harassment investigation, Mr. Cuomo “still holds significant support among a base of Democratic primary voters,” the executive director of Emerson College Polling, Spencer Kimball, said.

Following Attorney General Letitia James’s investigation into sexual assault allegations against Mr. Cuomo, he resigned last August. Trust in her findings sits at 59 percent, down from 65 percent in August. Distrust has risen to 23 percent from 15 percent over the same period, according to the two Emerson College polls.

In December and January criminal charges against Mr. Cuomo in Westchester County and Albany County were dropped. Prosecutors maintained that the allegations were credible but that they could not pursue the charges.

In Westchester the district attorney said the case didn’t meet “the statutory requirements of the criminal laws of New York.” In Albany the district attorney’s office simply announced it would “discontinue criminal prosecution.”

Since then Mr. Cuomo has been a vocal critic of the attorney general and her investigation into sexual harassment allegations.

“We’re laser-focused on getting the truth out about the attorney general’s prosecutorial misconduct and the fact that they ignored blackmail and suppressed evidence to further her political ambitions,” a Cuomo spokesman, Richard Azzopardi, told the Sun.

Mr. Cuomo appeared at God’s Battalion of Prayer at Crown Heights in Brooklyn on Sunday. In his first public appearance since his resignation last year, he said, “God isn’t finished with me yet.”

“Serial sexual harasser Andrew Cuomo won’t even spare a house of worship from his lies,” Ms. James said of the event. “New Yorkers are ready to move forward from this sick, pathetic man.”

The public appearance, combined with a TV ad that Mr. Cuomo’s camp put out last week, have led many to believe that he intends to return to politics.

Mr. Cuomo has also raised alarm bells regarding Republicans’ promised “red tsunami” in November. “We should be worried about the midterms,” he said. “The Democratic Party is spending too much time arguing amongst themselves.”